Introduction
The first viewpoint regarding the Spaniards conquest of the Americas on the Aztec Empire is the idea of Jared Diamond that environmental and geographical differences made the Americas lose the battle. Diamond believes that the social environment of the Americas that dwelled on modern technology but limited to the development of sophisticated weapons made its conquerors discover their weakness (Guns, Germs, and Steel 530).
Jared Diamond believes that food production, which is a term he uses to describe domestication of wild animals and plants, is a crucial human practice. Animal domestication became a powerful aspect of victory because the Spanish had expertise in horsemanship (Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel 485). Spaniards had a competitive advantage in the war because the horses helped them in undertaking farming activities as load-bearing animals assisted in the transport of weapons and soldiers during the war.
Mathew Restall had a closely related perspective of Spanish conquest but differed distinctively from the viewpoint of Diamond concerning the major factors that contributed to the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Nonetheless, Mathew Restall had seven myths that described his viewpoint of the Spanish conquest of the Americas.
In his perceptions, Mathew Restall believed that the Spaniards had skilled conquistadors, exceptional war leaders, and hence, were superior in war than the Americas. Mathew Restall believed that some White conquistadors and the King’s army comprised of trained Spanish army that helped the Spaniards.
He also believes that the battle happened gradually in that Spaniards progressively strategized throughout the war until the completion of the war. Mathew Restall believes that there was a miscommunication of the intentions of each warring group. Restall discovered that the Americas lacked unity, and their desolation gave the Spaniards power to conquer the Americas.
The thesis statement
Questions continue to emerge regarding the possible factors that contributed to the conquest of the Americas by the Spaniards during the conquest of the Aztec empire that the Inca community dominated during the pre-colonial era. This research paper notes that exceptional war leadership of Spaniards, disintegration among ethnic Americas, poor weapons, ineffective war leadership, poor communication, enmity against Americas, infectious European diseases and germs, Spaniard’s beliefs of superiority, America’s fear and inexperienced in war, and sociopolitical differences among Americas contributed to Spaniards conquest.
Outside factors that Influenced Spanish Conquest
Exceptional war leadership and external support
The Spanish conquest was successful due to their technical skills of war. Spaniards had exceptional war leaders who organized and motivated the Spanish warriors on the battlefields. Restall identified three monumental figures, “Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortes, who still enjoy extraordinary name recognition almost half a millennium after their deaths” (4).
Restall claims that the presence of brilliant and daring leaders such as Francisco Pizarro, Hernan Cortés, and Columbus made it easier for the Spaniards to conquer the Incas (7). Compared to the illiterate and uninformed leader of the Inca empire, Atahualpa, the Spaniard’s power combined efforts and created morale to plan and dominate the wars (Restall 12).
Although outnumbered by the Incas and the Aztecs, the daring and brilliant Spaniard leaders possessed war skills that they imparted to the gallant conquistadors who managed to conquer the Incas and Aztecs with great efficiency (Restall 19). The three brilliant conquistadors trained Spaniards through military techniques that deemed essential to any form of modern warfare.
External support and strategies to fight the Americas helped the Spaniards. Restall believed that the fighters gained morale from the Spanish king. Restall states that “through the military and constitute forces that match under the command of their captains, who plan and execute military operations,” Spaniards conquered the Americas (27).
This means that direct political influence came from Spain, a nation in support of the handful of Spaniard conquistadors in America’s land. Restall contested the notion that the conquistadors were not ordinary men under self-training, and that the conquistadors were the Spanish soldiers under the Spanish king (31).
Restall contested against the idea that the conquistadors were of a single Spaniard race since Portuguese, Greek, Genoese, and other ethnicities were present. This was an indication that it was an army of mixed ethnicities (33). Restall (35), in his argument, claims that the army was independent and consisted of self-trained servants, mercenaries, and footmen under the leadership of Pizarro.
Superior Spaniard weapons and sociopolitical differences
Historians believed that the Spaniards were superior to their counterparts in terms of war and aggression. Restall postulates that “the belief that the success of the Spanish conquest was due to either the supposed technological superiority of the Spaniards or a kind of inherent cultural superiority” (131).
The exposure of Spaniards to the artillery technology that made them produce sophisticated weapons through the steel smelting and gunpowder combination was an important aspect that determined their success in the war against the Americas (Restall 136).
As in the perceptions demonstrated by Jared Diamond, the Spaniards had experience and expertise in handling technological weapons such as steel armors, cannons, and handguns. Restall notes (140) that the Incas were capable of riding trained warhorses effectively and attack the enemies in a highly skilled manner. Compared to the trained Spanish mercenaries, the Incas had inexperienced, naive, and coward fighters. Moreover, among the conquistadors, a unique aspect was the compelling urge for gold that the Americas were about to extract.
While the Europeans and other Spaniards combined efforts and united against the Americas, the Incas and the Aztecs being American communities had political problems that were disintegrating and weakening their ethnic unity. Historically, leadership was an essential component in ensuring that members of a community remain united and strong against aggression (Diamond “Guns, Germs, and Steel: A Short History” 153).
Lack of empowering leadership in the Inca and Aztec communities was an outside factor that contributed to their conquest, given their inability to counter the daring and organized leadership of the Spaniards that was under Pizarro (Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel 420). This brings about the notion of the White conquistadors and the aspect of native desolation, where leadership tended to fail in bringing the Americas together. Ineffective leadership extends its problem in the communication aspect, where the myth of miscommunication comes into consideration.
Poor Communication and Illiteracy
Lack of proper communication or miscommunication was influential in Spanish conquest. There was a misunderstanding of the intentions of each fighting group. Restall argues that “the beliefs that the Spaniards and natives had perfect communication and that each group understood the other’s words and intentions unhindered, or the crucial events of the conquest were a result of the two groups misunderstanding each other’s intentions” (89).
Essentially, there was no clear communication of intentions between the rival communities, which contributed to the successful conquest. Restall (84) noted that information generated and passed from one fighting group to another ended up misinterpreted and misunderstood, and thus, kept the two groups at loggerheads with each other.
The leadership of the Incas itself was illiterate and that anything that the Spaniards tried to communicate, remained misunderstood (Restall 88). Persistent miscommunication, especially within Incas, made the urge for conflict and rebellion irresistible since frequent misinterpretation of intentions motivated violence.
Illiteracy in the leadership of the Americas is a crucial aspect that highlights the loss of the Americas in the battlefields. The discoveries of Jared Diamond against the nature of leadership demonstrated by the two leaders, Francisco Pizarro and Emperor Atahualpa, indicated that Atahualpa had fueled miscommunication due to his illiteracy (Diamond The Broadest Pattern 360).
Atahualpa regularly fell into the traps of Pizarro due to his low intellectual capacity and his miscalculations led to his capture and demise. Leadership again comes into play when the leadership of Atahualpa failed to unify people, which leads to social and political differences (Diamond The Broadest Pattern 385). These social and political differences, combined with other factors of instability among the Inca community, empowered the spirit of the Spaniards, who constantly overpowered and attacked the Inca fighters.
Disintegration among the Americas and enmity
Disunity among Americas was a crucial aspect that contributed to the Americas loss of the war against the well-planned and united Spaniards, which Mathew Restall calls it native desolation. “The indigenous peoples of the Americas resigned to their fate and included themselves in the new European order and ceased to exist as ethnicities” (Restall101). An outside factor that empowered the Spanish military is the desolation of the natives. Restall claims that, “the second great ally of the conquistadors was native disunity in its many forms and manifestations” (141).
There was a belief that the indigenous people of the Americas disintegrated from their ethnic community, resigned to their fate, collaborated with the European conquerors, and stopped to exist, as ethnicities in the Americas (Restall 105). This native desolation was a psychological process where many indigenous Americas refused to feel conquered, but rather formed partnerships with the European conquistadors and considered the war advantageous to them (Restall 122). Through the existing regime, the Incas were authoritative and formed allied forces that assisted Cortés to defeat the Aztecs and conquer the Aztec empire.
There was a long lasting enmity amongst Americas themselves and between them and other ethnicities. Combined efforts from different ethnicities to fight the oppressing Americas had empowered the Spaniards to counter the weakened Americas. Restall believed in the existence of White conquistadors and politically disintegrated native fighters, who indirectly contributed to loss of the Americas in the battle. Some natives had “the desire to advance their own dynasties and communities” (Restall 142).
Native communities and immigrants in the Inca and Aztec empires noticed the oppressing rules of the Americas and they were waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike against the rulers (Restall 140). Apart from having the White conquistadors, the Spaniards had other ethnicities. Additionally, there was evidence that the conquistadors of African descent were present at the battle and helped to fight against the Inca and Aztec communities (Restall 53). The notion is that the Americas could not resist is the involvement of other fighters, who supported the Spaniards to fight against the ruling Americas.
Infectious European diseases and germs
Infectious diseases and germs were critical oppressing factors to the Americas. An unopposed and unavoidable outside factor that possibly influenced the easy collapse of the Inca and Aztec Empire by the Spaniards was the presence of infectious European diseases (Restall 135).
By invading America, there was a belief that the Spaniards and other Europeans came with infectious and contagious diseases that the Americas had little resistance. The belief claimed that Europeans came with irresistible diseases such as smallpox, typhus, bubonic plague, measles and influenza (Diamond 77).
The Europeans had better immunity while the Americans were vulnerable to these diseases, making them weak in the battlefields. “Disease moved through the Americas faster than the germ-carrying Europeans and Africans could” (Restall 141). The gradual arrival of Europeans had indications of carrying these diseases with them, as leaders such as Cuitlahuac and Huayna died of smallpox attacks a moment after they detected the presence of Europeans in America.
Historical beliefs and inexperience
There were beliefs that Spaniards had once conquered Americas and these tireless battles created fear among the Americas. The beliefs assume that the Americas were virtually under the Spanish rule. Restall holds that, “in Latin America, Spanish control was never complete and rebellions were continuous” (64). In this view, Restall believes that the Americas were historically under the Spanish control before the conquistadors met the Incas and decided to conquer their empire at Inca and Aztec (67).
Restall claims that there were several rebellions between the Spaniards and the Americas before the pre-colonial regime and at the juncture, Spaniards were completing the deal of coup (67). The Maya conquistadors were eras that involved several cases of penetrations and battles between the Spaniards and the Americas (Restall and Lane 80). Restall considered the conquering of the mighty Aztec empire as a completion deal that the Spaniards had planned over a long period of aggression and rebellion against the Americas (73).
The weakness and inexperience of the America communities in warfare are evident from both perspectives, where Jared Diamond discovers that the Incas and the Aztecs had never worked with steel and iron to produce sophisticated weapons.
Diamond (The Broadest Pattern 364) affirms that “Pizarro’s military advantages lay in steel swords and guns (Pizarro had both muskets and artillery), to which the Incas could oppose only with stone and wooden weapons.” Historically, fighters, who did not possess steel weapons and guns felt naturally inferior and were likely to surrender. The inexperience of the Americas in the war resulted in the loss of the battle as the Incas and the Aztecs made them psychologically weak and boosted the ability of Spaniards to make a powerful conquest (Restall and Lane 83). Disintegration among ethnic members was another critical issue that led to the conquest of the Americas by the Spaniards.
Conclusion
Conclusively, both Jared Diamond and Mathew Restall portray similar ideas regarding the conquest of the Americas by the Spaniards. Poor leadership, inferior weapons, inexperienced military, disunity among the Americas, and sociopolitical differences among the Americas, led to their failure. The Inca and the Aztec communities were weak in the war because they had not discovered the use of gunpowder and smelting of iron and steel.
This statement sums up the main idea of inexperienced, naive, coward, and poorly equipped soldiers of the Americas, who fought the Spaniards. The nature of leadership was also a critical aspect of the war. The discoveries of Jared Diamond and Mathew Restall against the nature of leadership demonstrated by the two leaders Francisco Pizarro and Emperor Atahualpa indicated that Atahualpa had fueled miscommunication due to his illiteracy.
Works Cited
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Restall, Matthew, and Kris Lane. Latin America in Colonial Times. Cambridge, United States: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.
Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. New York, United States: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.