Question

How and why did the Spanish defeat the Mexica, despite being so outnumbered? Does this say anything about Spanish and Mexica culture?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Although Hernán Cortés was greatly outnumbered by the Aztecs, he was able to conquer this powerful empire because of alliances that he made with the People who had been conquered by the Aztecs. In other words, the local tribes who had previously been conquered by the Aztecs had helped Cortes defeat the Aztecs.

The people who were conquered by the Aztec in Mexico and the Spanish used the philosophy of, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” This is a war tactic that even was noticed during the first and second world war where the world formed the two groups of the central and axis powers because of the common enemies they had.

Even though these groups might have their own differences, they were willing to put these differences aside for the sake of the common goal or the common enemy they had to defeat. They were able to be victorious simply from the strength that they derived from unity. Therefore, one can say that the Mexican and Spanish cultures were good at adopting positions of tactical advantage and maintaining unity for the sake of common goals.