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In 1519, an extraordinary military event took place in Meso-America. Against all odds, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés led a tiny mercenary expedition that would cause the downfall of the great Aztec Empire and bring large portions of mainland Mexico under Spanish rule. With the help of native allies that had been terrorized by their Aztec neighbour, Cortés managed to conquer the Aztecs, with only 600 Spanish soldiers, 15 horsemen and a number of cannons. Upon arrival, he ordered to sink his own ships, to make a statement to his men that there was no way back. When the conquistadors entered the great valley of central Mexico in November and for the first time saw the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan, they could hardly believe their eyes. In front of them lay an island, seemingly fastened to the mainland with bridges and was four times larger than Seville, the last city they had seen before they went out to sea. Both the houses and the streets shined with a white light. Hernán Cortés was believed to be Quetzalcoatl, a legendary god who controlled the lightning and was expected to return that same year, according to myth and the Aztec calendar. Cortés and his men took advantage of this coincidence and captured the emperor Moctezuma, who ultimately ended up dying by the hands of his own people. Some 2 years later, the Aztec culture was more or less destroyed. The story and events repeated itself in 1532, when a relative to Cortés, by the name of Francisco Pizarro, conquered the Incas with a mere 106 soldiers and 62 horsemen. Why were the Spaniards so successful? The answer is: ''Guns, germs and steel''. They had the advantage of steel armor and weaponry, early firearms known as arquebuses and cannons, powerful crossbows and of course the horse, an animal which was not indigenous to the Americas. They also brought war dogs with them. Though in the end, the biggest factor was the diseases they had unknowingly taken with them aboard their ships from Europe. Native Americans had no defence against such an enemy.
