Delays the inevitable-solely killing Cortez is not enough, another conquistador will come for the riches of Aztec Empire.Any butterflies, or is this merely delaying the inevitable?
Europeans took millennia to acquire partial resistance to diseases like smallpox and plague. The Aztecs have two decades, tops, before better-supplied Europeans arrive again, in greater numbers.The Aztecs have time to recover from the impact of disease, instead of having to deal with multiple epidemics while fighting off an army.
With hindsight they shouldn't. If me or you were to mindswap with the Aztec king, we wouldn't have too much trouble. But the Aztecs don't have hindsight, and they have no idea how the Spanish operated their magical shooty tubes. They also had a staggering inability to divert their impressive metalworking skills to any practical use. They also had no knowledge of ironworking, or of how to accurately produce the delicate springs, pivots, triggers etc. necessary for musket manufacture. At best, and this is really pushing it because they had nothing resembling chemical analysis, they might figure out gunpowder and use it in religious ceremonies as "thunder and lightning" sound effects.All that Spanish armor and firearms and ammo are laying around. The Aztecs shouldn't have too much difficulty in adopting it and beginning to make their own.
They have no idea of how to feed or maintain horses, very delicate and temperamental creatures. Plus, they'd most likely either kill them as demons or eat them.There are also horses. If the next invasion doesn't come for a few years, they may face the beginnings of Aztec cavalry. Or, if you want an interesting twist, Tlaxcalan cavalry fighting alongside Spanish cavalry vs Aztecs.
Kind of difficult when they don't speak the same language.A completely massacre is unlikely. Some of the Spaniards will be captured for sacrifice. No doubt they will try to bargain for their lives with their own expertise.
Not really. Since the suggested POD is that Cortez and his men are killed on the beach, there is no contact between them at all. They'll revolt eventually anyway.The main and immeidate difficulty for the Aztecs will come in the fact that Tlaxcalans and other Spanish allies will still be around.
1..Europeans took millennia to acquire partial resistance to diseases like smallpox and plague.
2. But the Aztecs don't have hindsight, and they have no idea how the Spanish operated their magical shooty tubes. They also had a staggering inability to divert their impressive metalworking skills to any practical use.
3. They also had no knowledge of ironworking, or of how to accurately produce the delicate springs, pivots, triggers etc. necessary for musket manufacture.
4. At best, and this is really pushing it because they had nothing resembling chemical analysis, they might figure out gunpowder and use it in religious ceremonies as "thunder and lightning" sound effects.
5. They have no idea of how to feed or maintain horses, very delicate and temperamental creatures. Plus, they'd most likely either kill them as demons or eat them.
6. Kind of difficult when they don't speak the same language.
7. Since the suggested POD is that Cortez and his men are killed on the beach, there is no contact between them at all. They'll revolt eventually anyway.
It's hard to recover from c. 60% of the population being killed. Plus, resistance still applies. Another (albeit smaller) outbreak comes in 15-30 years.1. Resistance is a word you imagined, not mine. I said recovery.
Third sentence of your source:2. Nope, nothing practical.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/661077
Indeed.
Actually, it is. The firing mechanism on a handheld firearm requires that one not only be able to create very delicate "clockwork" parts (out of iron), but also that they fit perfectly together. As far as I know, the Aztecs never created a complex machine out of metal.3. "Delicate"?
Oh yes, a blunderbuss is as delicate as making a watch...
Your source says they knew how to use herbs as simple medication, which has nothing to do with chemical analysis (i.e. breaking down gunpowder into its components, then identifying them), and furthermore that you don't know what chemical analysis actually is.4. Nope, Aztecs had nothing like chemo analysis. Wrong again...
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.pa.06.040166.000301
The Plains tribes had access to a continuous, large supply of horses, with decades for experimentation. These ATL Aztecs have maybe 4 or 5 specimens. It's unlikely that they will figure them out before they die, or decide to kill and eat them.5. Oh yes, those Aztecs were so stupid they couldn't handle a horse.
Problem is, that doesn't hold up. The Cheyenne adopted the horse within a small number of years. Same with most other Plains tribes.
Yes. Only 22 years after Cortez's conquest. See above.Not only that, the first Aztecs to ride a horse did so way back before 1541, actually leading their troops into battle on horseback in the Mixton War.
Yes, who only spoke Nahuatl and Maya. They had a priest with them, Geronimo de Aguilar, who was the only one who spoke Maya. Presumably, by virtue of being a (missionary) priest, he's among the first to get a nasty public execution.6. Apparently you didn't know the Spaniards had a translator among them, Malinche.
The Aztecs weren't exactly known for keeping prisoners for years on end. They were known for killing them quickly, and brutally.And apparently, as you have made repeatedly clear, you have such an ingrained image of Aztecs as ignorant primitives, you ignore that people can learn another language, even when theyve never heard it before. Missionaries do it all the time.
Whatever the case, one can assume they mean within a couple of months of the landing.7. Try actually reading the POD. It says massacred "before far inland." Like almost everything else in your post, "on the the beach" is something you imagined.
I admit I'm not terribly familiar with who was independent or vassals of whom in Central America at the time, but I do know that the Aztecs weren't very popular among their neighbors or their people, and they were headed for an unhappy ending even before Cortez first set sail.Same thing with your idea that the Tlaxcalans would "revolt" against the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans were independent of them, bubba.
Calling Cortez's expedition Castillian is a bit of a stretch considering the fact that the Spanish colonial government actually tried to arrest him for invading the Aztec Empire.With the failure of the Castilian expedition, it's possible you might see a Portuguese Mexico.
1. Resistance is a word you imagined, not mine. I said recovery.
2. Nope, nothing practical.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/661077
3. "Delicate"?
Oh yes, a blunderbuss is as delicate as making a watch...
4. Nope, Aztecs had nothing like chemo analysis. Wrong again...
http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.pa.06.040166.000301
5. Oh yes, those Aztecs were so stupid they couldn't handle a horse.
Problem is, that doesn't hold up. The Cheyenne adopted the horse within a small number of years. Same with most other Plains tribes.
Not only that, the first Aztecs to ride a horse did so way back before 1541, actually leading their troops into battle on horseback in the Mixton War.
6. Apparently you didn't know the Spaniards had a translator among them, Malinche.
And apparently, as you have made repeatedly clear, you have such an ingrained image of Aztecs as ignorant primitives, you ignore that people can learn another language, even when theyve never heard it before. Missionaries do it all the time.
7. Try actually reading the POD. It says massacred "before far inland." Like almost everything else in your post, "on the the beach" is something you imagined.
Same thing with your idea that the Tlaxcalans would "revolt" against the Aztecs. The Tlaxcalans were independent of them, bubba.
More to the point, warhorses and thus mainly geldings and stallions... Even assuming assuming the Aztecs pick up all the Spanish cavalry mounts (IIRC the campaign rarely saw more than 20 Spanish horsemen active in any single battle, so a 2 remount to 1 rider ratio would put us in the region of 50 horses) they aren't going to have that much breeding stock.The Plains tribes had access to a continuous, large supply of horses, with decades for experimentation. These ATL Aztecs have maybe 4 or 5 specimens. It's unlikely that they will figure them out before they die, or decide to kill and eat them.
Another thing AmInd forgot; Cortez and his men were perhaps both the best and the worst conquistadors, as in best at what they did and among the cruelest to boot. Hell, one of their leaders was Pedro Alvarado. Without the likes of him, Cortez, and Malinche, the Aztecs are gonna have more success. This doesn't necessarily mean they will be unconquered, but it does mean they will more likely than not survive more intact. One thing to remember is that AFAIK the King of Spain hated the kind of stuff they did. He even drastically punished Diego de Landa for burning Maya books. So it's easy to assume that despite the diseases, the Aztecs could possibly remain somewhat intact as a vassal of Spain. Which would be awesome. All their treasures would still be around, not to mention the city of Tenochtitlan itself.
Peace with Spain ? Cortez brought a group of 500 hundred men, and toppled the Aztec Empire. If Spain ever would find itself at war with Aztec Empire(not that they would even bother, since to Spain it would be a war with primitive natives, that they would view as half-naked barbarians-not my view but stating the attitude of that time), then Aztec Empire is gone without a question.This would, in addition to giving the Aztecs more time and a better chance for peace with Spain, would benefit the Maya and Incas even more greatly.