Title: 
Headings:  The Success of  Hernando Cortes
The
 
Success
 
of
  
Hernando
 
Cortes
 

Bibliography
 


Content: The
 
most
 
notable
 
of
  
these
 
diseases
 
being
 
Smallpox,
 
which
 
so
 
drastically
 
reduced
 
the
 
Aztec
 
population
 
and
 
leadership
 
capabilities
 
that
 
at
 
times
 
Cortes
 
was
 
able
 
to
 
move
 
about
 
unopposed. Additionally,
 
the
 
Spaniard’s
 
superior
 
tactics
 
and
 
weaponry
 
played
 
a
 
major
 
role
 
in
 
the
 
conquest
 
of
  
Mexico. Leading
 
to
 
their
 
unparalleled
 
success
 
on
 
the
 
battleﬁeld. The
 
ﬁnal
 
predominant
 
reason
 
for
 
the
 
Spanish
 
success
 
was
 
due
 
to
 
the
 
Aztecs
 
harsh
 
tribute
 
system
 
that
 
subjugated
 
and
 
oppressed
 
the
 
neighboring
 
populations,
 
leaving
 
the
 
Aztecs
 
very
 
unpopular
 
with
 
the
 
people
 
of
  
Mexico. Ultimately
 
leading
 
to
 
subjugated
 
tribes
 
acting
 
against
 
Aztec
 
interests
 
and
 
allying
 
with
 
Cortes,
 
the
 
most
 
notable
 
being
 
the
 
Tlaxcalans
 
who
 
made
 
up
 
the
 
majority
 
of
  
his
 
combined
 
army. This
 
relentless
 
tribute
 
system
 
allowed
 
Cortes
 
to
 
act
 
as
 
a
 
means
 
to
 
an
 
end
 
for
 
the
 
other
 
tribal
 
communities. These
 
three
 
reasons
 
all
 
worked
 
together
 
to
 
allow
 
Cortes
 
to
 
conquer
 
the
 
largest
 
Meso-American
 
Empire
 
to
 
date
 
with
 
only
 
500
 
original
 
men. To
 
begin
 
with,
 
the
 
Spanish
 
introduction
 
of
  
European
 
diseases,
 
smallpox
 
among
 
them,
 
is
 
still
 
to
 
this
 
day
 
one
 
of
  
the
 
most
 
tragic
 
periods
 
of
  
Mexican
 
history. With
 
it’s
 
ﬁrst
 
recording
 
coming
 
from
 
Central
 
Mexico
 
in
 
August
 
of
  
1520,
 
in
 
a
 
report
 
to
 
Charles
 
V
 
by
 
Vasquez
 
de
 
Ayllon. This
 
disease
 
had
 
such
 
a
 
signiﬁcant
 
impact
 
on
 
the
 
native
 
populations
 
because
 
Mexico
 
at
 
that
 
time
 
was
 
what
 
historians
 
refer
 
to
 
as
 
a,
 
“virgin
 
soil
 
population,”
  
Having
 
had
 
no
 
prior
 
experience
 
with
 
this
 
disease
 
nobody
 
had
 
any
 
immunity
 
to
 
it.