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Since: 26 January 2005.

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Alternate History imagines what would happen if history had gone differently. We are a community for creating and discussing a wide range of alternate timelines: large and small, ancient and recent, realistic and fanciful. If you'd like to add to our growing multiverse, the following pages will help you get started.

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On This Day

22 January 467 - The assembled princes of the Cimbrian Alliance elect High King Æthelred of Cimbria to lead them, signaling their independence of Roman control. (L'Uniona Homanus) -
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This Month's Featured Althist

Aztec Empire

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

In June, 9, 1520 hostilities broke out, culminating in the massacre in the Main Temple and the death of Moctezuma. The Spaniards fled the town on July 1, 1520, 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 emperor Cuitláhuac, successfully defeated the Spanish at the battle at the gates of Tenochtitlan in 1521.

After the first Aztec Spanish War the Aztecs suffered greatly from Spanish-introduced diseases, primarily smallpox. Eventually the Aztecs became immune to the disease, but only after 35% of the population had been wiped out. Despite all the sacrifices, the priests could not stop the plague which led to a massacre of priests by an enraged population. This ended the priests’ power once and for all.

Once the Aztecs had shaken off the effects of the plagues, they began an intense period of modernization. They began learning how to build Spanish weapons and learn Spanish tactics for war. Saltpetre was in short supply, as was metal, so traders from Britain and France traded weapons for gold. They also taught the Aztecs how to mine and smelt metal and manufacture metal weapons and armour. Supplied with advanced weapons, the Aztecs went to war with, and defeated, the Confederacy of Tlaxcala.

See Other Featured Alternate Histories Current Nominations for Featured Alternate History