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Why Did Cortés Flee Tenochtitlan on La Noche Triste?

Si Sheppard says La Noche Triste, the tragic night, was the night Cortés broke out of Tenochtitlan after the city turned on him, and most of his men did not get out.

The Spanish were already divided. Velázquez, the governor in Cuba, sent a larger force than Cortés had brought, under Narváez, to arrest him for going past his orders. Cortés left Alvarado in charge of the capital, marched to the coast, lost a small battle, then told the newcomers they could share the riches of an empire he already held. Most of them joined him and marched back as reinforcements. He returned to a siege. Alvarado, assuming the Aztecs were mobilizing, had struck during a festival and killed the assembled warrior aristocracy. Survivors raised the population. When Moctezuma tried to calm the crowd, they threw stones and he was mortally wounded. Sheppard says he either died of that or the Spanish killed him because he was no longer useful.

Cortés then broke out across the causeways. Many men were killed trying to escape or were forced back and captured. He reached Tlaxcalan territory with a minority of his troops. At Otumba, horses still let him find the Aztec general, break the command, and get away from an army that had the numbers.

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Si Sheppard – How did a few hundred Spanish soldiers topple two empires? ·

Dwarkesh Podcast

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