Incredible videos. I've been studying this era for over 40 years and it is amazing the history. Since I am 1/3 Italian and 1/2 Spanish it is part of my history.
Just discovered your channel through the Italian Wars series (which is excellent). I’m amazed that I was never recommended your videos before. RU-vid’s algorithm is shafting us both!
I took an Hispanic heritage class a long time ago. My professor said the Spanish Conquest was and is an Indian Revolt against the Tyrannical rule of the hated Aztecs. That is why Cortes won. Without the 40 to 100k Indian allies he could not of taken Mexico City. Arriba Espana!
Well, I am Mexican and my history class was that Cortés tortured Aztec leaders and even brought the plague. There is a little propaganda on both sides as there is a nationalist streak in the previous century. :)
@@PurpleWarlock Sadly, the Protestant Ethic of "false propaganda" (lies) has made it into a lot of American and Hispanic history books. This was done by the Brits, Americans and the Dutch to mention a few because they envied the Spanish success and wanted to and indeed eventually stole all Spanish Viceroyalties in the Americas. The demonic masons also had a hand in this yet nobody ever mentions that for some reason?
@@PurpleWarlock you have been and still are a victim of the unfortunate *bad* educational system in Mexico of which my Husband Raul (Puebla) was also a victim of. As his grandfather said, and i will quote here..." Si nos hubiesen colonizado los Anglosajones Britanicos no hubiera ningun Indio vivo! Y de los pocos que quizas hubieran, estarian alcoholizados y marginados viviendo en reservas como estan en Canada, u.s.a., Nueva Zelanda y Australia. Gracias a Dios que fueron los Españoles que vinieron aca y no los yankees!" Mas razon no hay mano.
I prefer your channel way more than others with a more much stylized than natural animation like those from Kings and Generals. Whenever there's a moment of tension you put the music of suspension like at 15:15 (I LOVE THIS THEME!) or 21:50 and the sound effects of fighting and screams only make the video much more immersive. And the way you end the videos is great, just with few words while the soundtrack is slowing finishing when the video is ending. Kings and Generals are always talking at the end of the videos and break all the immersion. Sorry for my bad English, I'm from Brazil! Keep it up with your amazing channel, we're all grateful for your hard work and I'll try my best to help you the way I can!
Excellent work, an interesting epic on how such a small force through many tactics managed to defeat a numerically superior army. Cortes might have been ruthless but he was relentless and ambitious so much so that his alliances were his success story!
It is interesting that la leyenda negra is still arround, and Spaniards are described like naz*s with indiancaust in Mexico but in reallity it was mainly diplomatic subjugation - some tribes joined Cortez without any gunshots to fight Aztecs
U should read something like the devastation of the indies, which was written by a spaniard during contemporary times to see just how horrible men like cortez were. Broken spears is from an aztec perspective and details the atrocities committed during the conquest
@@victorgrandy1032 All conquerors of their time acted the same. Fact is disease killed most Natives. All empires did horrible things. Why do you think Canada and Australia barely have any Natives? But only Spain gets the hate? Biased?
@@phillip_iv_planetking6354 the shit that went on during the conquest was horrid dude, feeding people to dogs alive wasn't common practice, even the emperor of the hre said it was terrible and should stop
Great presentation. Cortez has been villainized by some, but he was master of tactics. He was able to leverage his relationship with the natives to win a history making victory.
One Correction: the Mexica didn't believe their ancestors came from the east, the legend said they came from Aztlan, a mythical place in the north, which is why they were called sometimes Aztecs by other peoples. But according to legend it was the human incarnation of Quetzalcoatl the feathered serpent, a toltec prince of the ninth century called Ce-Acatl Topiltzin, who had left to the east and a prophecy said he might come back. Usually this god was represented as being white and with a mask that looks like a beard. So when the spaniards arrived it was thought by some it might be Quetzalcoatl returning.
no no no no, Quetzalcoatl for the toltecs was the union between the heaven (quetzal) and earth (coat), Quetzacoatl is the way that the humans need to recorret the reach the heaven and trancender, the toltecs were not a civilization but a school of phisolophers, one the miyth of Quezalcoalt was he incarnate a human body and lived among their humans creations because he loved them so much, in tula.
The Aztec empire was mostly composed of vassals and subjugated cities who largely retained a non-Aztec identity, unlike many other empires like the Romans who “latinized” conquered lands and people and made them Romans. This meant that much of the Aztec Empire, like the Cempollans and Tlaxcalans, resented their overlords and leapt at the opportunity to rebel after Cortez and his men started causing chaos in Tenochtitlan. With no emperor or royal court to organize the army and put down rebellions, the Aztec Empire began to disintegrate almost immediately.
i love this channel so mutch , i honestly thought i knew a decent bit about spanish colonization but i was wrong , this content is amazing you deserve so mutch more attention for this
You do make good videos and I enjoy them a lot, however, if you would read the chronicles of the Spanish Conquistadores, not some dubious person or priest from that time that was not there, there is no mention that Diego Velazquez said "bring me slaves", they were after gold to keep funding their enterprise as any modern company, but at the same time bring the word of Christ to the natives
He's never had that 1 video go viral and unless that happens it's a very slow process to grow on here. Doesn't bother me but maybe his accent doesn't help either, RU-vid is a funny place. Cheap ass no work channels can get millions of views while someone really giving something useful and informative is ignored. I know it sucks but he might need to find a click bait subject and do a couple of videos just to get jmgis numbers up. Just to get him out there where people will find him.
What books did you use for this series? Do you have a list i could read somewhere? If anyone else could recommend some books on the spanish empire and spanish history id appreciatr that as well :)
hey bernal diaz del castillo and other primary sources for the time can be too heavy, i recommend you an amazing book of the so called "new historiography of the conquest" which revises many old myths and common assumptions, and reveals some surprising fascinating facts about the conquest of mexico and central america. Here you can see its main themes in the wikipedia review article. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Myths_of_the_Spanish_Conquest
It is very frustrating. the amount of ignorance of this RU-vid channels is paramount to the knowledge of a 8 year old USA educated kid, based on the information feed to then by the USA tv channels, That's is way the great majority of the USA citizens hare so naïve and ignorantes. Please research the true history.
You need to do 1 video that goes viral and you'll be all set. The word isn't getting out. More collabs like the 1 you're doing and I know it's a bit cheap but find a cluck bait title and subject just for a quick 2 part series. I know but it's for the common good as it'll get you better known and once you are you'll be on the way.
Interesting fact. The siege of Tenochtitlan was one of the last use of trebuchet's. According to the record it launched the rock which promptly destroyed the siege engine itself.
@@pikeshotBattles I belive I've read somewhere that the ships Cortes supposedly burned down were actually used to built those brigantines during the siege of Tenochtitlan. (Edit) I believe they managed to build those brigantines from narvaez ships my bad.
How did the Spanish lose just 2 men? Early era muskets and cannons were inaccurate, so how did the natives despite numerical superiority lose so badly?
They were scared of them as the Spanish looked like God's to them. Imagine fighting someone who you think is a god or even someone using technology you can't even imagine! However the Spanish lost several men but only 2 horses in the 1st big battle when surrounded. Also Horses helped as they'd never seen them either and didn't understand what they were. Much better armour, better strategy, gun powder which while not very accurate was plenty accurate enough when pointed at 200 people running at you with clubs. Remember these people were basically a Stone age culture, they only beat gold etc in to shape and didn't have even metal spears so their armour was awful against even a iron sword which they'd never faced. Then the Spanish were almost invulnerable in the armour against the very primative weapons of the Aztecs etc.
When the Spanish have full plate armor, halberds, pikes, swords, guns, cannons and other technological advances that far out class the Aztecs it’s really no wonder they won. Full plate is extremely effective at defending against iron weapons let alone stone. You’re basically almost impossible to kill unless you get overwhelmed
It is hard to believe Cortes could defeat thousands of Txlaclacans in an open field - even with gunpowder. Is there evidence for that battle beyond the words of a few dramatic Spaniards?
well the thing is if you have never seen gunpowder weapons before and experience a volley it will have a tremendous morale affect. And all it takes is a trickle to start a flood, if the guy to the left of you gets blown up and you start slowing down your charge its very likely the guy next to you will slow down as well, and then the guy next to him and so on. And that in itself can completely dissipate a charge. Its just common sense, horses wont charge a wall of spears, soldiers wont charge directly into machine gun fire unless forced to, and a determined volley will break the cohesion of any charging untrained infantry.
They also had some native allies. But the Spaniards were also armored. It is awfully hard to kill a person when their chest and much of their head is virtually impervious to damage. They could only hurt the Spanish if they hit them in the face, neck, legs, or arms and got through any cloth armor they wore there, which is easier said than done when the guy has a sword that is far harder and more durable than your weapon. This is probably why nearly every Spaniard suffered injuries by the end of the battle but few died. Lastly, and this is somewhat conjecture since I am not perfectly familiar with mesoamerican battle order, but I suspect the Tlaxcalans fought in more loosely organized groups than the Spanish who probably formed tight, orderly ranks. This would make a big difference, since it means the Spanish could support each other more effectively while their opponents could not leverage their numbers as effectively.
They were a Stone age culture still. They really thought that the Spanish were God's and the fact that they rode horses which they'd also never seen just made that belief stronger. Imagine facing cannons and horses which you can't even have imagined and holding a club or a stone axe. Also they seem to have cloths of impenetrable metal while you have animal skin or similar.
This was part of the "Pike and Shot" era, so the Spanish infantry were probably divided into pikemen, swordsmen with shields, and gun-men or crossbowmen. A pike formation with decent armor would be virtually impenetrable to a direct assault by Tlaxcalan infantry. Not even a European army would very much like to assault a pike formation without first softening it up with gun, cannon, or crossbow fire. If they do attack, they would want to do so with their own pikemen and not with regular spear or swordsmen. But as has been pointed out, the Tlaxcalans had limited ability to do do damage from range. I doubt the Tlaxcalans had very many men armed with very long pikes, but such pikes would not be metal, anyway. They also didn't have well-armored men armed with greatswords capable of knocking aside or breaking pikes, let alone cleaving through Spanish armor once they get close enough.
@@samiamrg7 yhea very well described. They'd need to actually break in to the square and to manage that with the armour and weapons they had would really take something special. Very good planning that's also carried out by men willing to die and knowing that they most likely would so they kept going no matter what. Its very hard to have that sort of belief when you are probably a conscript or a low born person who knows no matter who wins things probably won't improve for you.
