Cortez Got Lucky…

According to legend, Hernan Cortez took a small army, a handful of horses, a few cannons, and was able to virtually exterminate the oldest and most militaristic nation in the America’s. The Aztec nation was an extremely advanced (though barbaric) people who had established themselves in the Yucatan peninsula as the dominant force for decades.

It seems almost impossible that Cortez would be able to do so much with so little and it is therefore a matter of much controversy how Cortez managed to destroy such an imposing and powerful group as the Aztecs with such a meager force. Many as a result have ascribed to Cortez almost mystical powers, assuming him to have somehow magically toppled the mighty Aztecs. The truth of the matter however is that Cortez just got plain lucky.

In 1518, Hernan Cortez was a low level conquistador given a small army and put in command of an expedition commissioned to secure part of the Mexican interior as a colony. Instead of following his orders however, Cortez decided he was going to attack and exterminate the Aztec nation (stealing their famous riches along the way).

In April of 1519, Cortez forces landed shores controlled by the Aztec empire. Here Cortez burned his ships so as to prevent his soldiers from entertaining any thoughts of retreating, Cortez then led his men into the interior. In the ensuing months, Cortez even though grossly outnumbered, is supposed to have defeated a number of massive native armies, put to death the Aztec emperor Montezuma, partially burned the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, and plundered the Aztec empire.

What is rarely told about the story of Cortez miraculous expedition however is the fact that what really enabled Cortez to be so successful was something he had never even counted on, the help of the native people. Many people groups that Cortez came into contact with viewed him as more of a liberator from Aztec oppression than a white skinned god (as many historians would suggest). The natives largely hated the oppressive and imperialistic Aztecs, and looked at Cortez arrival as a timely opportunity for them throw off the subjugation of their overlords, as well as repay the Aztecs for years of cruelty. By landing at Veracruz, Cortez initiated a series of events, largely outside of his control, which acted to pull apart the Aztec empire.

Cortez would have been helpless without the translators who aided him, not to mention the thousands and thousands of soldiers who joined his army and helped to even the odds that he would have faced otherwise.

While Cortez can certainly credited with a lot of courage and bravery (though one must inevitably question the merit of those qualities when they are utilized to manipulate others for personal gain), it is a gross stretch of the imagination to suggest that Cortez victory was a result of his own ability. More accurately, I think one could say that Cortez was an individual who put the entirety of his meager assets on a single roll of fate, and inexplicably, he happened to make his throw at a time when a myriad of variables all combined to project him into the annals of history as more than what he was, someone who gambled, got lucky, and won.