Montezuma: Warlord of the Aztecs

by Peter G. Tsouras

Overview

Places Aztec civilization and history in the context of world history Montezuma (ca. 1466-1520), who had been educated as a priest and had served well as a military commander, ascended to the Aztec throne in about 1502 on the basis of his military record and reputation for piety. As Peter G. Tsouras demonstrates, almost immediately Montezuma transformed himself from a man of good judgment to a pitiless autocrat. He killed indiscriminately at home and waged wars of conquest against his neighbors, adding territory in contemporary Honduras and Nicaragua to his empire. In 1519, Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico at the head of a Spanish expedition. Montezuma believed the invaders to be gods fulfilling the prophecy that the god Quetzalcoatl would return. He failed to resist and cautiously offered gifts. As a result, Cortés and the conquistadors marched on the capital and seized Montezuma. The monarch fell, surrendering his power, wealth, and even the sovereignty of his people, almost gladly. He became a puppet of the Spaniards and finally allied himself in battle against his own people. When the emperor's brother at last led an uprising, the ungrateful Spaniards killed Montezuma.

Against the backdrop of ancient Mexico's rich cultural heritage, Tsouras captures the tragedy that befell Mexico during Montezuma's reign.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612340654
Publisher:	Potomac Books Inc.
Publication date:	10/31/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	919,581
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

A former U.S. Army officer, Peter G. Tsouras is a senior military intelligence analyst, a military historian, and the author or editor of two dozen works of military history and alternate history. Many of his books have been selected by the History Book Club and the Military Book Club and have been widely translated. He is the author of Britannia’s Fist: From Civil War to World War—An Alternate History (Potomac Books, Inc., 2008). A regular guest on the History Channel and similar venues in Britain and Canada, Tsouras lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Table of Contents

List of Maps
Preface
Chronology
Chapter 1. The Rise of Empire
Chapter 2. “There Was Dread in the World”
Chapter 3. Arrow Wars and Flower Wars
Chapter 4. Omens of the End of the World
Chapter 5. The Meeting of Two Worlds
Chapter 6. The Taming of Motecuhzoma
Chapter 7. “He Had Survived His Honor”
Chapter 8. The Dusk of Empire
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliographic Note
Index
About the Author

PREFACE:

Cortés could not pronounce his name and gave it a Spanish flavor – Montezuma. There was much more about this Indian ruler of fifteen million subjects that the Conquistador did not understand than his name – Motecuhzoma, the Angry Lord. But he did grasp the one most correct thing about this mighty man. He was the single point of failure for his empire, indeed, for his civilization.

Two hundred years before, the Aztecs, or more correctly, the Mexica, had been wandering barbarians before they found their way into the lush Valley of Mexico. There they found civilization, carved out with the obsidian sword the greatest empire North America had ever seen, and built a brilliant capital that ranked as one of the great cities of the world. Mexica armies conquered from the Gulf to the Pacific coasts to the borders of Guatemala. A million bearers carried the tribute of a world into the capital every eighty days.

Motecuhzoma was absolute master of this world, the last of the Mexica rulers to have assumed his throne before the arrival of the Spaniards in Mexico. He was an accomplished warrior and general who had added to the endless string of Mexica conquests. To him was due the great fluorescence of this civilization as the wealth of Mexico created a cosmopolitan civilization never seen in the Americas. To him also was due the brutal centralization of the empire that withered initiative and flexibility among the Mexica. Always before, Mexica rulers had relied on the good counsel of experienced men. Motecuhzoma kept his own counsel. As the glories of empire mounted, Mexica society lost a vital element of adaptability, the very qualities needed to repulse conquerors from across the sea.

Still, even a rigid structure could well have dealt with Cortés had it been ably led by this autocrat. Instead, the autocrat cracked, victim of his own superstitious nature and a legend of a returned god come to reclaim his rightful empire. The Mexica imperial idea was based on the claim that it was the legitimate heir of the near-mythical time of perfection, the Toltec Empire. Much like the legacy of Rome in Medieval Europe, the Toltecs exerted a powerful pull on the minds of its successors. The creator of that empire, the man-god Quetzalcoatl had sailed away to the east vowing someday to return. That prophecy had not been an important element of Mexica imperial ideology. It lay slumbering safely in the ever-receding future, as safely as the Second Coming, until Cortés arrived in the year associated with Quetzalcoatl.

With that, Motecuhzoma was undone. His moral center collapsed as he allowed Cortés to march into his capital and then turned over the empire to him as a god or emissary of a god. The Mexica could do nothing but watch in growing anger and consternation, cowed by the absolutism of Motecuhzoma. The slavish obedience that Motecuhzoma had instilled stayed the hands of men who would have made short work of the Spaniards. Cortés exploited this weakness to the hilt and through Motecuhzoma’s willing collaboration, seized control of the functioning empire. It would have worked had not one of his subordinates committed a mass atrocity that broke all the bounds of obedience. But for the Mexica, it was too late. Their victories would be ephemeral, their wounds too deep.

A few words on the pronunciation of names in Náhuatl, the language of the Mexica and central Mexico. Durán referred to it as language of poetry, infinite metaphors, and great subtlety. All words in Náhuatl are accented on the second the last syllable. The x is pronounced as a sh; the h is spoken with a soft aspirant as in English. The tl and tz represent single sounds. The u used before a, e, i, and o is pronounced like the English w. Cu before vowels is pronounced kw. Mexica – may-SHEE-kha and Huitzilopochtli – weets-eel-oh-POCH-tlee; Tenochtitlan – tay-noch-TEE-tlan; Cuitláhuac – Kwe-TLAH-hwac. Many place names were hispanized, simply because Spanish tongues could not pronounce Náhuatl words. Cuauhnahuac (Near the Trees) became Cuernavaca, and Tollan became Tula.

Special thanks to my oh-so-talented wife, Patty, who created the splendid maps for this book and to the family of Keith Henderson for the incomparable illustrations in this book.

Peter G. Tsouras
Lieut. Col, USAR (ret)

August 2003
Alexandria, Virginia

The name “Aztec” is derived from their place of origin – Atzlan. On their journey, their deity ordered them to change their name to “Mexica”. After the Conquest, the name Aztec was revived when their history was studied and applied to all the Náhuatl-speaking inhabitants of Central Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

"Peter Tsouras has written an engaging and informative chronicle of the life of the last emperor of the Aztec Empire, Moctezuma II....this short work delivers more than a reader has a right to expect from so few pages."

"A fascinating story of an Indian caudillo who built an empire, only to turn it over to the conquering Spaniards."

From the Publisher