Conquistadors and Aztecs

March 6, 2023
Historian Rinke (Latin America and the First World War) revisits in this comprehensive and insightful chronicle the fall of Tenochtitlan and the Mexica (or Aztec) Empire in the early 16th century. Adding depth and nuance to historical accounts of a small band of conquistadors swiftly overcoming a massive empire through technological and tactical superiority, Rinke draws on Indigenous and Spanish sources to uncover a much more complex series of events. He sketches Hernán Cortés’s youth in Spain and departure for the Caribbean in 1504, before shifting gears to focus on Mexica ruler Moctezuma II and the empire’s state of disarray prior to Cortés’s expedition to Mesoamerica in 1519. Much attention is paid to the Spaniards’ interactions with the Totonacs, Tlaxcalans, and other Mexica vassal states and enemies who proved to be invaluable allies in the battle for Tenochtitlan, which lasted for more than a year and involved victories and setbacks for both sides. Only in subsequent histories, primarily by non-Indigenous peoples, was the fall of the Mexica Empire viewed as inevitable. Rinke’s prodigious research enables him to disentangle the biological, psychological, military, and sociocultural factors behind this much mythologized conquest. The result is a vital reconsideration of the history of the New World. Illus.

Starred review from March 1, 2024

Rinke (Latin American history, Freie Universit�t Berlin; Latin America and the First World War) has produced a riveting one-volume history of the 1519-21 Spanish Conquest of Mexico. The book demonstrates that the commander of the conquistadors, Hern�n Cort�s, was a colonist motivated by gold and power, but he could not have stormed the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan without backing from hundreds of thousands of Indigenous allies who had their own reasons for wanting to overthrow the Aztec rulers. Rinke spotlights the ceaseless machinations of Cort�s to control his fractious Spanish troops and sustain alliances with Indigenous adversaries of the Aztecs, such as the Totonac and Tlaxcalan peoples. Rinke characterizes the conquest--with smallpox and starvation contributing to the Aztecs' defeat--not as a genocide but rather as a complex process of deals and pacts forged or fractured by violence. Where the primary sources contradict one another (as they often do), Rinke explains and interprets the differences, instead of eliding complexity in favor of a contrived history. Although numerous historians have studied the downfall of the Aztec state, Rinke's monograph ranks among the best. VERDICT Enthusiastically recommended for students, scholars, and general readers seeking a thoughtful introduction to a complex and controversial historical moment.--Michael Rodriguez

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.