Emperor Cortez of the Nahuatl

1551 when they refuse to pay the tribute.

Really the Spanish King is looking for any excuse to start a war and try to bring the Nahuatl into the Spanish sphere of influence, and renew Spanish dominance following the failure in the last war--you wouldn't believe the propaganda circulated by the French about Spain's soldiers being beaten by savages.
 
Are the people of Cortez's empire regarded as savages? They have not only been converted, but are converting others. Also with Iberians ruling the Empire I would think that it would have a reputation as a nation among nations. In fact a strong local empire could hinder racism's development in the region.

What do you Eurpoeans outside of Iberia think of Nuahtl? Could this lad to a monarchistic version of the American Revolution? Would the Empire msake the same mistakes when it has been shown what van happen with this conquistador rebellion?

So many questions, I look forward to more of this TL in the hopes of obtaining answers.
 
July 3, 1551: Mercenary soldiers in the employ of King Henry of France invade Italy, as the King had long had imperial designs on the peninsula and King Charles V of Spain had numerous possessions there. They are much more successful there now than IOTL, as some Spanish soldiers have been stripped from North Italian towns to go fight Emperor Martin in Central America.
This war, the Italian War of 1551-1558, is remembered as the start of a long French-Nahuatl alliance against Spain. The alliance is beneficial to the Nahuatl as the King of Spain can never turn his full wrath against Central America, while the French get the benefit of distracting the Spanish King in a place thousands of miles from any French possessions.




The following is an excerpt from a letter from Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry of France, to her close friend and sister in law, Mary, Queen of Scots:


The court today received the ambassador from that strange kingdom in the west. He declares himself Don Carlo Xochialco, the envoy of Emperor Martin of the Nahuatl, son of Emperor Hernan. His manner was completely Spanish, though he wore strange clothing, a peculiar arrangement of strange and bright feathers, with much gold plating. He spoke like an educated man, but is still strange. He clearly has not a drop of Spanish blood, but he acts in a manner befitting a noble. He is of a strange brown color, but seems civilized. Some of the knightly men of court recoiled at the sight of him, thinking him a savage, but it is not so. I imagine that his kind shall be useful against Spain, for they seem to hate Charles as much as we do.​
 
July 3, 1551: Mercenary soldiers in the employ of King Henry of France invade Italy, as the King had long had imperial designs on the peninsula and King Charles V of Spain had numerous possessions there. They are much more successful there now than IOTL, as some Spanish soldiers have been stripped from North Italian towns to go fight Emperor Martin in Central America.

This war, the Italian War of 1551-1558, is remembered as the start of a long French-Nahuatl alliance against Spain. The alliance is beneficial to the Nahuatl as the King of Spain can never turn his full wrath against Central America, while the French get the benefit of distracting the Spanish King in a place thousands of miles from any French possessions.​




The following is an excerpt from a letter from Elisabeth of Valois, daughter of Henry of France, to her close friend and sister in law, Mary, Queen of Scots:



The court today received the ambassador from that strange kingdom in the west. He declares himself Don Carlo Xochialco, the envoy of Emperor Martin of the Nahuatl, son of Emperor Hernan. His manner was completely Spanish, though he wore strange clothing, a peculiar arrangement of strange and bright feathers, with much gold plating. He spoke like an educated man, but is still strange. He clearly has not a drop of Spanish blood, but he acts in a manner befitting a noble. He is of a strange brown color, but seems civilized. Some of the knightly men of court recoiled at the sight of him, thinking him a savage, but it is not so. I imagine that his kind shall be useful against Spain, for they seem to hate Charles as much as we do.​
Interesting...
I'd like to see how this plays out.
So, aside from the Spanish colonizing Eastern USA area, what else is different in the colonizing department?
 
November 3, 1553: Spain finally responds to Nahuatl harrassment operations against the Spanish Caribbean. Two invasion forces, one from the Spanish Yucatan, invade within days of each other. The first, the Yucatan force, is composed partially of a force that goes through the jungle, looking for any indians who would join the Spaniards, and partly of a landing force that lands at Campeche, a former Maya port city.

The other force lands at Tampico, intending to march down south and seize coastal cities like Ciudad de Cortes.

January 27, 1554: The Spanish force from Tampico meets Emperor Martin's army at Xalapa. Following almost a month of plunder and sack along the east coast, the Spanish force is very near it's objective: Ciudad de Cortes, or Veracruz. However, Emperor Martin manages to taunt the commander with the specter of gold. His soldiers circulate a rumor that the Emperor's wagon train carries gold valued at OTL values of $10 Billion. The General in charge of the Spanish force was only human. He could not resist the gold. Rather than forcing the Emperor to fight in front of Ciudad de Cortes, in range of Spanish naval guns, he chases the Emperor inland several miles.

The Battle of Tampico was simply stunning. The Spanish force numbered roughly 10,000 men. Of those, 7,500 were infantry men, mostly pikes, but many muskets mixed in. 500 men served cannons, over 100 total. Another 2,000 Spaniards were heavy cavalry.

The Nahuatl force was similar. Though Nahuatl equipment was still somewhat inferior to Spanish gear, it was very close to parity. The Nahuatl force numbered roughly 13,000 soldiers. Of those, roughly 9,000 were infantry, 3,000 were gunmen or archers, and, for the first time, cavalry was used en masse by the Nahuatl army. 1,000 horsemen rode under the Nahuatl flag, as breeding numbers from horses captured and purchased from Spain finally reached the numbers necessary for large scale use. Also, the Nahuatl had roughly 20 cannons.

Emperor Martin first left a bait force of 1,000 infantry guarding empty wagons in a wide open space. This was to serve as the Imperial wagon train, and the Spaniards took the bait. Though only 500 cavalry and 1,000 infantry were intended to charge forward and secure the wagons, the Spanish soldiers were happy with the prospect of snatching some gold for themselves. In total, 1,000 cavalry and over 2,000 infantry charged at the bait. The Nahuatl infantry scattered, running into the jungles. However, while the Spaniards were confused and swearing over the fact that the wagons were empty, the Nahuatl cannons and muskets opened fire from 3 sides. In the confusion, the Spaniards retreat, but some of the infantry try taking empty cases from the interior of the wagons. Hundreds are gunned down. The survivors are attacked by the Nahuatl infantry. By this point, Nahuatl infantry wears mostly mail armor, with partial plate and helmets. Swords are steel weapons of quality equal to Spanish weapons. However, Nahuatl warriors are far more able to blend in to the environment, and are far more adept to fighting in tropical conditions. At the end of this encounter, almost 1,000 Spanish cavalry and over 1,700 infantry were killed at an expense of 26 Nahuatl.

The Battle is in the Nahuatls' favor.
 
Interesting timeline. It's good to see Cortes doing a bit better than in OTL.

Presumably we'll be seeing the French overtake the Habsburgs as the premier power rather earlier than in OTL. Shall we be seeing a European marriage for Martin or does he still need to consolidate links with the Aztec nobility - perhaps a daughter of Cuitlahuac or Cuatemoc?

In the confusion, the Spaniards retreat, but some of the infantry try taking empty cases from the interior of the wagons. Hundreds are gunned down.

Seems somewhat analoguous to La Noche Triste.
 
I named it Nahuatl because Cortez's main allies were the Tlaxcala, who had fought numerous wars against the Aztecs, who were sometimes referred to as Mexica tribes. If Cortes named it Mexico, he would be dealing with a lot of pissed off Tlaxcalans.

Nahua would actually be a better name, as Nahuatl refers to the language. Pretty interesting timeline so far.
 
Interesting timeline. It's good to see Cortes doing a bit better than in OTL.

Presumably we'll be seeing the French overtake the Habsburgs as the premier power rather earlier than in OTL. Shall we be seeing a European marriage for Martin or does he still need to consolidate links with the Aztec nobility - perhaps a daughter of Cuitlahuac or Cuatemoc?



Seems somewhat analoguous to La Noche Triste.

The French will certainly be gaining strength. There will also be more French territory in the New World than IOTL. However, Don Martin's reign is still too early for a marriage to a European. The French King won't marry his daughters off to someone who is not European (might as well marry them to a moor, eh?), but I'm not ruling out the possibility of a marriage alliance by the end of the century.

As for the La Noche Triste analogy, I didn't think of that, but you're right.

Anyway, here's the rest of the Battle of Xalapa:

January 28, 1554: The day opens with Nahua guns, muskets, and bowmen opening fire on the Spaniards from the cover of jungle and forest. The Spaniards send a force of 2,000 pikemen supported by artillery fire to destroy the missile troops in cover, while sending 4,000 pikemen in a full scale assault at the main Nahua camp. The 2,000 pikes in the woods would turn after marching through the woods and attack the camp from the flank. Spanish musketeers, numbering 1,500, would support the pikemen, and the cavalry forces of Spain, following yesterday's fiasco, would be hoarded until the Nahua broke, when they would be used to mop up.
The Spaniards encountered severe resistance upon entering the woods. Nahua swordsmen and warriors, from individual training were now equal to the Spaniards in the open, and, in terrain, superior. Though the cannons of Spain had destroyed some trees and ripped a few soldiers to shreds, most had survived. The average Nahua warrior now wore steel plate armor over vital organs and mail over everything else. Swords were now steel, rather than obsidian, but the Nahua warriors still resembled their ancestors only because of their cotton clothing. Pikemen could not maintain their formations within the rough jungles, and when they had to break to pass around trees and quicksand, Nahua warriors could stab them in the sides and fronts, then quickly run off before a pike could be leveled against them. Bowmen, gunmen, and even occasional dart shooters helped rip the Spanish force to shreds. Though the Nahua pulled out of the jungle position, they retreated up a hill to the camp. The Spanish pikemen had lost half their forces, and had exited the jungle only to come face to face with the Nahua artillery. As the Spaniards tried in vain to climb up the hill in the face of hot lead, they broke and ran. More Nahua warriors in reserve in the jungles caught them as they fled.
The fighting in the open was much more evenly matched. Pike tactics had always been new for former Aztecs. While the tactics of individual warriors, knights in their own right, had been in use for centuries, the use of hundreds of soldiers acting as one in a square was completely alien. However, a pike force of 7,000 and some 2,000 swordsmen was assembled in the open plain between the jungles and hills outside Xalapa. However, the pikemen were of lower quality than Spanish pikemen. Spanish musketeers and pikemen battled it out against Nahua musketeers and pikemen. The Spaniards had more cannon, but the Nahua had more infantry. By day's end, the infantry fight was inconclusive. Some 5,000 Spaniards and 6,500 Nahua were dead.

January 29, 1554: The next day, the Spanish commander finally decided that his remaining 3,000 odd men should just break and try to seize Xalapa, where the Spanish fleet could help them. The Nahua now outnumbered them 2-to-1, but the Spanish commander knew that if he remained in place, he would get butchered. The entire Spanish cavalry charged straight at Xalapa, intending to secure the port, while 750 Spanish armored swordsmen and the remaining Spanish musket force marched behind them to fortify the city after taking it. 1,500 Spanish pikemen fortified the approach to the city with wooden stakes and trenches overnight, then dug in above the trenches, pikes out. Spanish guns would sit still, and open up on the Nahua when they tried to charge forward.
Emperor Martin observed this overnight, and, at midnight, ordered his cavalry to move around the Spanish fortifications and prepare to charge against the Spanish soldiers. At dawn, as the Spanish cavalry moved at the city, the Nahua cavalry charged forward rapidly to knock out the Spanish cannons and then hit the pikemen from the rear. The Spanish artillerymen were taken completely by surprise, and ran. As the Nahua cavalry destroyed the pikemen from the rear, the Nahua infantry force marched forward briskly. With the pikemen crushed from both sides, this line too collapsed. Finally, the Nahua forces advanced against the city. By this time, the Spanish forces had managed to flag down enogh ships for a full scale evacuation to Cuba.
The Battle of Xalapa had mixed results. On the one hand, the Spanish force had been forced out, and were no longer a land threat on the North-east of the Nahua Empire. On the other hand, Xalapa had been burned and thousands of Nahua warriors were dead. However, the Nahua Empire managed to claim victory, if only by default.
 
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