Texcoco (Acolhua city-state)

Cacamatzin, king of Texcoco, the second most important city of the Aztec Empire, is a son of the previous king Nezahualpilli by one of his mistresses.

Traditionally, the Texcocan kings are elected by the nobility from the most able of the royal family.

Cacamatzin's election to the throne in 1515 is said to have been made under considerable pressure from Moctezuma II, lord of Tenochtitlán.

Moctezuma II wishes to lessen Texcoco's power in favor of greater centralization in Tenochtitlán.

Moctezuma II, under orders from Cortes, had Cacamatzin arrested "in his own palace while discussing war-preparations".

The Caciques of Coyoacan, Iztapalapa, and Tacuba are also arrested.

Moctezuma and his caciques are forced after the treason of Cacamatzin  to take a more formal oath of allegiance to the King of Spain, though Moctezuma "could not restrain his tears".

Moctezuma told his Caciques that "their ancestral tradition, set down in their books of records, that men would come from the direction of the sunrise to rule these lands" and that "He believed...we were these men."

Cortés sends expeditions to investigate the Aztec sources of gold in the provinces of Zacatula, Tuxtepec, and the land of the Chinantecs.

Moctezuma is now made to pay a tribute to the Spanish king, which includes his father's treasure.

These the Spaniards melt down to form gold bars stamped with an iron die.

Finally, Moctezuma lets the Spaniards build an altar on their temple, next to the Aztec idols.

The Aztec gods tell the Mexican papas, or priests, they will not stay unless the Spaniards are killed and driven back across the sea.

Moctezuma warna Cortes to leave at once, as their lives are at risk.

Many of the nobility rally around Cuitláhuac, the brother of Moctezuma and his heir-apparent; however, most of them can take no overt action against the Spanish unless the order is given by the Emperor.

Moctezuma informs Cortés that a much larger party of Spaniards consisting of nineteen ships and fourteen hundred soldiers under the command of Pánfilo de Narváez had arrived.

Narváez had been sent by Governor Velázquez from Cuba to kill or capture Cortés.

Leaving his two hundred "least reliable soldiers" under the command of Pedro de Alvarado to guard Moctezuma in Tenochtitlan, Cortés sets out against Narváez, who has advanced onto Cempoala.

Among the group of Spanish that had arrived in Mexico from Hispaniola is one or more who is infected with the smallpox that had already been ravaging that island for two years.

In this contact between the two Spanish groups, one of Cortés's men contracts the disease.

When Cortés returns to Tenochtitlan, he brings the disease with him.

Cortés, whose forces are numerically inferior, surprises his antagonist with a night attack, during which his men wound Narváez in the eye and take him prisoner.

He persuades the rest of Narváez's men to join him.

After Cortés permits the defeated soldiers to settle in the country, they "passed with more or less willingness to Cortes' side."

Cortes gains their support when he "promised to make them rich and give them commands.”

Alvarado meanwhile commits the massacre in the Great Temple, triggering a local rebellion.

Cortes now makes a rapid return to Tenochtitlan, to relieve the besieged Alvarado and his men.

Cortés leads his thirteen hundred soldiers and ninety-six horses, plus two thousand Tlaxcalan warriors, on an arduous trek back over the Sierra Madre Oriental.

Years later, when asked what the new land is like, Cortés will crumple up a piece of parchment, then spread it part way out: "Like this."

Cortés returns to Tenochtitlan on St. John's Day June 1520, to find that Alvarado and his men had attacked and killed many of the Aztec nobility during a religious festival.

Alvarado's explanation to Cortés is that the Spaniards had learned that the Aztecs planned to attack the Spanish garrison in the city once the festival was complete, so he had launched a preemptive attack.

Considerable doubt has been cast by different commentators on this explanation, which may have been self-serving rationalization on the part of Alvarado, who may have attacked out of fear (or greed) where no immediate threat existed.

In any event, the population of the city had risen en masse after the Spanish attack.

Fierce fighting has ensued, and the Aztec troops now besiege the palace housing the Spaniards and Moctezuma.

Cortés orders Moctezuma to ask his people to stop fighting.

Moctezuma tells him that they will not listen to him and suggests Cortés free Cuitláhuac, the eleventh son of the ruler Axayacatl and a younger brother of Moctezuma II, so that he can persuade them to dispose of their arms and not fight anymore.

Cortés then frees Cuitláhuac and once Cuitláhuac is free, the nobility of Tenochtitlan chooses Cuitláhuac as Huey Tlatoani (Emperor).

He now leads his people against the conquistadors.

Cortés orders Moctezuma to speak to his people from a palace balcony and persuade them to let the Spanish return to the coast in peace.

Moctezuma is jeered and stones are thrown at him, mortally wounding Moctezuma.

Aztec sources state the Spaniards killed him.

The Spaniards and their allies have to flee the city, as the population of Tenochtitlan has risen against them and their situation can only deteriorate.

Because the Aztecs have removed the bridges over the gaps in the causeways that linked the city to the mainland, Cortés' men construct a portable bridge with which to cross the openings.

On the rainy night of July 10, 1520, the Spaniards and their allies set out for the mainland via the causeway to Tlacopan.

They place the portable bridge in the first gap, but at that moment their movement is detected and Aztec forces attack, both along the causeway and by means of canoes on the lake.

The Spanish are thus caught on a narrow road with water or buildings on both sides.

The retreat quickly turns into a rout.

The Spanish discover hat they cannot remove their portable bridge unit from the first gap, and so have no choice but to leave it behind.

The bulk of the Spanish infantry, left behind by Cortés and the other horsemen, has to cut their way through the masses of Aztec warriors opposing them.

Many of the Spaniards, weighed down by their armor and booty, drown in the causeway gaps or are killed by the Aztecs.

Much of the wealth the Spaniards have acquired in Tenochtitlan is lost.

The bridge is later called "Alvarado's Leap".

The channel is now a street in Mexico City, called "Puente de Alvarado" (Alvarado's Bridge), because it seemed Alvarado escaped across an invisible bridge.

(He may have been walking on the bodies of those soldiers and attackers who had preceded him, given the shallowness of the lake.)

It is said that Cortés, upon reaching the mainland at Tlacopan, wept over their losses.

This episode is called "La Noche Triste" (The night of sorrows), and the old tree ("El árbol de la noche triste") where Cortés allegedly cried is still a monument in Mexico.

The Aztecs pursue and harass the Spanish, who, guided by their Tlaxcalan allies, move around Lake Zumpango toward sanctuary in Tlaxcala.

On July 14, 1520, the Aztecs attempt to destroy the Spanish for good at the battle of Otumba.

Although hard-pressed, the Spanish infantry is able to hold off the overwhelming numbers of enemy warriors, while the Spanish cavalry under the leadership of Cortés charges through the enemy ranks again and again.

The Aztecs had not encountered Castilians in battle, despite their long exposure to them during the Spaniards' time in Tenochtitlan.

They are unfamiliar with the use of troops mounted on horses as shock troops, and Are taken aback when mounted Spanish soldiers continually charge at them.

For all of their numbers, they are unprepared to endure cavalry charges.

Cortés has instructed his troops to strike primarily at the captains and leaders of their opponent.

Cortés himself recognizes the Aztec leader Matlatzincatl for his rich armor, headdress and flag.

He correctly assumes that defeating their leader and capturing their flag will result in the defeat of the Aztecs.

Cortés attacks the Aztec leader with his lance, and the rest of his captains break the ranks of the warriors around him.

Matlatzincatl is slain by Juan de Salamanca, who retrieves the Aztec battle-standard and delivers it to Cortés.

With their leader slain, the Aztec force diminish gradually, and the Tlaxcalan and Castilian warriors rout them.

In this retreat the Spaniards suffer heavy casualties, losing eight hundred and sixty soldiers, seventy-two other Spanish members of Cortes' group, including five women, and a thousand Tlaxcalan warriors.

Several Aztec noblemen loyal to Cortés, including Cacamatzin, and their families also perish, including Moctezuma's son and two daughters.

The Spanish soldier carrying smallpox also dies in the fighting.

The Spanish are now able to complete their escape to Tlaxcala, where they are given assistance and comfort, since all four hundred and forty-four of them are wounded, with only twenty horses left.