What would be the effects if Cortez and his entire army are killed on the Tabuca causeway trying to escape?
Giving that Aztecs weren't exactly the forgiving type, that they would use the strategical defeat of the former native allies of Castillans to punish them...Agreed. However, a second expedition is going to take time and this time any native allies would be less likely to help because in ATL the one time they trusted a stranger he got himself killed.
I'm not sure you can just jury-rig in a non-mettalurgic warfare culture, not only iron/steel weapons, but gunpowder weapons, just like that (to say nothing of horses, of course)And my theory is that the Aztecs would have thought about integrating European weapons into their military.
Well, yes, they can (as in not certain, but not impossible as well)And it's not like the Spanish can just walk in once again.
They might well try, but there is a reason the Aztecs never destroyed Tlaxcala, and wasn't just to have flower wars; Tlaxcalans were a tough nut to crack. Also there were other people not all that happy to be under the Mexica thumb. The shock of this alien invasion from the east, the aliens' near victory, and general uncertainty among other local elites regarding which way to jump, might lead others to see Aztec preoccupation punishing Cortes's allies as a reason to rebel against Aztec domination themselves. Seems to me it is equally possible that the next round of Spaniards might enter a Mexico riven with inter-city warfare and find as many possible allies as the first time fighting a weakened Triple Alliance.The Triple Alliance would unleash unholy retribution on the Tlaxcalteca and Totonacans for allying themselves with Cortés, depriving future expeditions to Mexico the ability to call on native auxiliaries.
Wasn't the Spanish victory largely due to Aztec hesitation and uncertainty? a second, officially sanctioned expedition would probably still not be sufficiently large enough to defeat an Aztec army that had some idea of what they were facing.
Originally Posted by zoomar
Seems to me it is equally possible that the next round of Spaniards might enter a Mexico riven with inter-city warfare and find as many possible allies as the first time fighting a weakened Triple Alliance.