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Regarding military power, Mann does argue, IIRC, that the gap wasn’t as large as might be supposed. He also argues that the conquest of the Aztecs and the Incas
by chrchr 4y ago
Regarding military power, Mann does argue, IIRC, that the gap wasn’t as large as might be supposed. He also argues that the conquest of the Aztecs and the Incas by small forces of Spanish conquistadors was not enabled by military superiority but rather by upsetting existing political balance. In both cases, the conquistadors aligned with subjugated factions within the existing imperial systems to overthrow the dominant power. E.g., in Mexico, Moctezuma had captured and imprisoned Cortez and his forces and could have easily wiped them out. The emperor’s delay ultimately allowed Cortez to align with vassal states, and that alliance overthrew the empire. That’s not to say that the Aztec empire’s military was the equal of Spain’s, but Cortez’s small band of conquistadors would not have defeated the Aztecs head-to-head.
- yamtaddle 4y agoRight. It's not that the military tech wasn't better, it's that, given the massive logistical advantages of indigenous Americans (consider what a supply chain looked like for even a tiny European force in the Americas!), the role of disease-induced chaos putting much of indigenous society & politics into something resembling death convulsions before many of them even saw Europeans, plus some straight realpolitik "heads I win, tails you lose" moves from the Europeans, it was a pretty minor factor in the whole thing. Just the weapon-tech advantage wouldn't have been anywhere near enough for the conquest to go even as smoothly as it did, thanks largely to the logistics disadvantage of the Europeans (and the conquest wasn't terribly smooth, anyway—Europeans lost plenty of battles over a span of centuries before mostly subjugating the Americas).
- YeGoblynQueenne 4y agoThere is a great account of the conquest of Mexico in "Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España" by one Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who was a member of Cortés' troop of conquistadores: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_verdadera_de_la_conquista_de_la_Nueva_Espa%C3%B1a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historia_verdadera_de_la_conqu... I think this is probably recounted by other sources but he talks also about the "noche triste", the night that the conquistadores had to run for their lives from Tenochtitlan, pursued by a mob driven to rage after the murder of the emperor Moctezuma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Noche_Triste https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Noche_Triste Although on that night the conquistadores were probably at a disadvantage, for being weighed down with all the gold they tried to take with them as they ran. Encumberance is a bitch. In general, it seems true that the Spanish survived by the skin of their teeth, driven by their lust for richess and mainly thanks to the support of the local vassal states like the Tlaxcalans. Military superiority is not just who has the best weapons and even in the Old World battles are not always won by the most technologically advanced society. For example, see the Battle of Isandlwana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Isandlwana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Isandlwana