Battle of Otumba. July 7, 1520

I'm a bit confused. Would the Spanish have had been able to conquer the rest of Mexico without owning the Aztec Empire?

I dunno, but that's a literal interpretation of "not the Aztec and Incan Empires, but everything else from OTL". You might find it to have been smaller than you imagined:

1280px-Aztec_Empire_1519_map-fr.svg.png
 
From The Vitality of China and the Chinese, by Armand Cleese:

'And a fascinating counter-factual essay has been written by a distinguished American military-historian suggestin that if Cortez had failed there would be no occupation of Central America. The Incas are different but there would have been no occupation of Central America because the Spanish State would not have been interested in any further expeditions'.
 
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From The Vitality of China and the Chinese, by Armand Cleese:

'And a fascinating counter-factual essay has been written by a distinguished American military-historian suggestin that if Cortez had failed there would be no occupation of Central America. The Incas are different but there would have been no occupation of Central America because the Spanish State would not have been interested in any further expeditions'.


Except that gloriously misses the point that the Spanish Crown were not interested in the first expedition and in fact Cortez was if anything on strict orders not to go invading anyone. The Conquistadors were in the same spirit as later American filibusters, independent operators who hoped success would legitimise their actions and the Aztec Empire is going to have a very weak and vulnerable phase after Cortez whether the man himself succeeds or fails.
 
Except that gloriously misses the point that the Spanish Crown were not interested in the first expedition and in fact Cortez was if anything on strict orders not to go invading anyone. The Conquistadors were in the same spirit as later American filibusters, independent operators who hoped success would legitimise their actions and the Aztec Empire is going to have a very weak and vulnerable phase after Cortez whether the man himself succeeds or fails.

Do you think Cortés independent actions would have had repeated in the Americas?
 
Do you think Cortés independent actions would have had repeated in the Americas?

Yes

I am not going to pretend to deep knowledge of the Spanish Empire but if you look at Spanish society at this time you have a social system that is designed to produce crusaders and crown servants. Only by this era the wars for Spain the Reconquista are over so that the usage of such young men of noble birth but small means is somewhat reduced. To these types a bit of death or glory in the New World has to offer a chance of validation in their lives.

A little oversimplified but there is my thought on the matter.
 

Deleted member 67076

They would need to horn in on Hispaniola earlier than OTL to try, and still be sitting ducks for Spanish raiders along the way. They could do more for the Aztecs by just invading Spain.
The French could easily just take and hold Jamaica or Puerto Rico.

Either of these had less than 500 Spanish soldiers garissoning the place.
 
But having the example of a defeated Cortés...

Even successful expeditions could be lethal Magellan for example did not survive the one that made his name nor in fact did all but 18 of the crew of the one ship out of five to return.

I really think the attitude would be more to try their luck than be put off.
 

Deleted member 67076

Perhaps they feared the Spanish would overthrow them, having Cuba already.
Would the French have had been able to compete por colonies in the Caribbean against the Spanish?
Yes, pretty easily assuming the French have a proper fleet to use and have the region mapped out. The Spanish did not put in the amount of resources needed to defend their colonies up until the late 1600s.
 
Yes, pretty easily assuming the French have a proper fleet to use and have the region mapped out. The Spanish did not put in the amount of resources needed to defend their colonies up until the late 1600s.

In which case the Spanish could probably escalate themselves. The question being whether the French would be likely to win an all-out colonial war at this time. Not to mention what the French are sacrificing to do this instead.
 
Would the French have had been able to compete for colonies against the Spanish in the Caribeean, had Cortés failed? Take a quick read about Jean Ango, Jacques Cartier, Jean Fleury and the Parmentier brothers.
 
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