Aztecs by Cortez

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Aztecs by Cortez
During the age of the exploration, a Spanish conquistador known as Hernán Cortés managed to subdue and conquer the Aztec empire, with only 508 soldiers. The Spanish conquest occurred during the 16th century and marked one of the complex historical events (Smart 699). Several different reasons aided in the conquest such as the military advancement of the Spanish that made them more superior than the Aztec army, the outbreak of diseases and the cruel tribute system of the Aztec.To begin with, the Aztec empire was not well advanced in its military and combat technology. The three city-states, the Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and the Tlacopan, did not have the cannon, muskets, horses and the military manual like the Spanish (Smart 699-700). As such, Cortés had military superiority over the Aztec empire making it easier for the Spanish to overpower and conquer the empire.
The Aztec empire ruled ruthlessly through their cruel tribute system that created division among the local people in the empire. The tribute was paid to the sun and other gods through human sacrifices and was targeted at war slaves and sometimes young children and older adults. Therefore, when the Spanish arrived, they acted as liberators, gaining more allies from the Indians and the Mexican making it easy to conquer the empire.
Lastly, a larger population of the Aztec was attacked by diseases like smallpox which reduced the population taskforce and military power making it vulnerable to external attack.

As such, with a good number of the population weakly and reduced Cortés found it easy to infiltrate and subdue the empire.
In summation, the Spanish through Cortés managed to easily conquer the Aztec empire due to immune to some of diseases that attach the common people in the empire, their alliance with the commoner and superior weaponry and military techniques. This provided them with an advantage over the Aztec, leading to its conquer.
Works Cited
Smart, Harriet. “Altera Roma: Art and Empire from Mérida to Mexico.” Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 49, no. 3, 2017, pp. 698-700