Title: How Did the Battles for Control of the Empire Unfold?
Author: Levin, Moline and Redhead
Source: Our Worldviews: Explore, Understand, Connect
Activity 9.5 Key
Pages: 313-316
I can statement: I can identify and describe the battles of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec.
Instructions:
Key Terms
Pre-Reading – Identify and define the key terms in your reading in the section provided.
During Reading – Using a highlighter and a transparency identify the key information
from each of your reading selections.
After Reading – Summarize your key facts into the provided sections
Massacre of Unarmed Aztec
Noche Triste (Sorrowful Night)
Over the next six months, with
After defeating Velazquez’s troops with
tensions rising between the Aztec
the assistance of the Tlaxcalans, Cortes
and the Spanish, Cortes has to leave
finds his men trapped in his palace. His
Tenochtitlan to deal with Velazquez
troops reinforced with Velazquez’s men,
troops that were sent to arrest him
fight their way to the palace where he
in Veracruz. Having been left in
order Moctezuma to persuade his
charge, Pedro de Alvardo massacres
a group of unarmed Aztec nobles,
priests and warriors that were in
celebration
of
their
god,
Huitzilopochtli. The outraged Aztec
people to seek peace with the Spanish.
For his efforts, Moctezuma is fatally
wounded by his own people and is
replaced
by
Cuitlahuac
(kwee-tlah-
watch). After continued attacks by the
Aztec, the Spanish attempt to escape the
take up arms and force a Spanish
city only to be attacked on the Aztec
retreat to Cortes’ palace; any hopes
causeways.
of a lasting peace vanishing.
occurred as they were unable to
An Unforeseen Enemy
effectively defend themselves because
Many
Spanish
deaths
of the gold they were carrying.
The Spanish and the Tlaxcalans
spent five months recovering from
their wounds while the Aztec began
to suffer the effects of smallpox.
The Aztec were devastated by this
disease with reports of nearly half
their population dying including
Cuitlahuac.
The Final Battle
Once regrouped the Spanish return to
Tenochtitlan with additional support from the
Texcoco, once a member of the Aztec Triple
Alliance. Devastated by smallpox and without
support, the Aztec withstood the Spanish siege
with its cutting off of water and food for 75 days.
It finally ends on August 13, 1521 when the last of
Aztec surrenders and the huey tlatoani
Cuauhtemoc is hanged. The Spanish destroy the
city by pulling down temples and palaces, setting
fire to houses and filling the causeways with
rubble. In just three short years, Cortes becomes
captain-general of New Spain (Mexico).