Aztec Empire

Aztec Empire
Moctezuma II had been Emporer for 17 years when Hernán Cortés and the Spaniards landed on the Gulf Coast in the spring of 1519.

Cortés allied himself with the Aztecs’ long-time enemy, the Confederacy of Tlaxcala, and arrived at the gates of Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519, guests of the Aztecs.

The Spaniards became increasingly dangerous and unwelcome guests in the capital city. In June, 1520, hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in the Main Temple and the death of Montezuma. The Spaniards fled the town on July 1, an episode later characterized as La Noche Triste. They and their native allies returned in the spring of 1521 to lay siege to Tenochtitlan. however the Aztecs, under the leadership of the new emporer Cuitláhuac, who sucessfully defeated the spanish at the battle at the gates of Tenochtitlan in 1521. afer the first Aztec Spanish War the aztecs began an intense period of isolationisim, at the same time learning how to build spanish weapons and learn spanish tactics for war. gunpowder was in short supply though, as was metal. after the war british traders traded weapons for gold. until a second invasion by the spanish forced them to find allies in the form of the newly united states of america