Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-6876762-20130303211712/@comment-32656-20130402114743

Smallpox was by far not the only disease. And virtually everyone was infected with it to one degree or another, anyways. Besides that, all it takes is one person to infect the globe.

There is no way to avoid it. And it was so deadly and spread so fast, they won't get immunity. Native populations were still dying of these diseases a hundred years ago - and that's after a few centuries of exposure. Think about that.

Viva, in the Americas something like 80% of the native population died from diseases. About the same as 3-4 Black Deaths hitting at the same time. And that is the low estimate. It took Mexico five centuries to get its population back to the same level as it was during the conquest.

These men were soldiers - they would not be able to do such things. And, the Aztecs would have "dealt" with them, anyways.

The horses would not have lived - livestock will almost never survive such events. They are stuck in holds, and don't make it out. No horses would live.