Aztec Society and the Spanish Conquest

A small force and a large empire

This option covers the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs, c.1492 to c.1525, as a case study in early modern colonialism. The Aztecs ruled an empire from a great capital city, and many of the peoples around them were made to pay it tribute. A small Spanish force led by Cortes brought that empire down within a few years of reaching it. Three factors are always named: technology, disease and alliances. The weak answer picks one and calls it the reason. The strong answer shows that each one needed the others, and then argues about which the others needed most. That is the skill this module teaches: explaining how factors work together. Running the on-screen enquiry itself, from forming a hypothesis to reflecting on it, is the other module on this unit.

Five words for explaining an outcome

The middle one is the tool the whole module uses.

Two factors working together

Five true statements about the conquest. Three describe one factor on its own. Tap the TWO that show one factor working through another.

• Spanish soldiers carried steel swords and wore steel armour
• Disease brought from Europe spread through the Aztec capital, weakening its defenders before Spanish and allied forces besieged it
• Many peoples near the Aztecs had been made to pay tribute to them
• Allied peoples supplied most of the fighters, while Spanish weapons and horses gave those combined forces an edge in open battle
• The Spanish force that first reached the empire was small

What one retreat proves

Before the final siege, the Spanish had already entered the Aztec capital once and been driven out of it, with every weapon and horse they had. What does that retreat show most clearly?

• That Spanish technology on its own was not enough to win
• That Spanish technology made no difference at all
• That the Aztecs were the more advanced people
• That disease was the only real cause of the conquest

A list against an argument

Both columns can contain exactly the same facts. What differs is what the answer does with them.

Match each part of the conquest to its job

Put the course of the conquest in order

Six stages in the conquest of the Aztec empire. Put them in the order they happened.

• A Spanish expedition led by Cortes lands on the mainland coast
• Cortes makes alliances with peoples who were enemies of the Aztecs or paid them tribute
• The Spanish enter the Aztec capital
• The Spanish are driven out of the capital with heavy losses
• Disease spreads through the capital, and Spanish and allied forces then besiege and take it
• Spanish colonial rule is set up over the lands of the former empire

Who gets the credit

For a long time the conquest was told as the story of a small Spanish force and its leader: bold decisions, better weapons, a famous victory. That reading has real strength. Cortes did choose to seek allies, and without those choices the other factors might never have been put to use. Many historians now tell it differently. They put the allied peoples and disease at the centre, and see the Spanish as one side among several in a war that others did most of the fighting in. That reading has real strength too, because the fighters and the local knowledge were overwhelmingly not Spanish. Neither reading is settled. For top marks, set out both at their strongest, say which you find more convincing and why, and never write as if the question had been closed.

Fact, interpretation or neither

For each statement, decide what kind of claim it is. Three lives.

The captain in the photograph

A school quiz team wins its regional final. The local paper prints one photograph, of the captain holding the trophy, and the caption says she won it. Now imagine the team with each member missing in turn. Without the captain, somebody else buzzes first and they probably still win. Without the quiet one at the end of the table, nobody knows a single science answer, and science was a third of the questions. Without the teacher who drilled them every lunchtime all term, none of them is quick enough on the buzzer in the first place. The photograph is not a lie. It is one reading of the win, and the team members would each tell it a little differently. The honest account is the one that says what each person needed from the others, and then argues about who mattered most.

What makes the judgement convincing

A student has to decide which factor mattered most in the fall of the Aztec empire. Select every move that would make their judgement more convincing.

• Imagining each factor absent in turn and asking whether the others could still have won
• Choosing the factor the other two relied on most, and showing how
• Setting out the strongest case for a different factor before explaining why they reject it
• Choosing the factor they have the most detail about
• Concluding that all three factors were equally important

Finish the explanation sentences

An answer that gives each _____ its own paragraph and never connects them is a list. A stronger answer shows how each one _____ on the others. The quickest check is the _____ test: imagine one absent and ask whether the rest could still have produced the result. How much _____ the Spanish deserve, compared with their allies, is a matter of _____, and historians still disagree about it. The conquest itself took a few years; _____ was the system of outside rule that followed and lasted far longer.

Build the linked explanation

Assemble a paragraph explaining how the three factors worked together.

Four decisions on the draft

A student is writing an answer on why the Aztec empire fell and what followed. Each stage sets out where they are and hands you the decision.

• Their draft has three tidy paragraphs, one each on technology, disease and alliances, and none of them mentions the other two. Decide what to do.
• They have written that the Spanish won because they were a more advanced people. Decide.
• The question asks about the colonial consequences of the conquest, and their paragraph describes the fall of the capital in detail. Decide.
• The final paragraph has to say who deserves most of the credit for the fall of the empire. They know historians disagree. Decide.

Argue how far technology explains it

How far was Spanish technology the main reason the Aztec empire fell to the Spanish? Explain your answer.

• Use the removal test on Spanish weapons and horses
• Show disease working through another factor
• Explain why allies were available, using Aztec society
• Name the factor the others relied on most, with a reason
• Show where historians disagree about the credit, without settling it