Conquest through Symbols

Todorov asks on page 53, "A mystery concerning the very outcome of the combat stills hovers over the conquest: why this lightninlike victory, when the inhabitants of America are so superior in number to their adversaries and fighting on their own territory as well?" Several answers, somewhat debated, are offered to this question; Montezuma's reaction to the Spaniards, the Spanish alliance with the Tlaxcaltecs, and perhaps most destructive and significant is the destruction of the Indian culture.

Montezuma is presented as an ideal leader; sacrificing his own status of power in order to prevent revolution in his own territory. The way the "great" leader is presented in the text, paints a picture of a ruler with his people as his main concern. "Montezuma tries by ever means in his power to keep war from breaking out in his city: he prefers to abandon his leadership, his privleges, and his wealth. Even during Cortes's breif absence, when the Spaniard has gone to face the punitive expedition sent against him, Montezuma will not attempt to take advantage of the situation in order to get rid of the invaders"(Todorov 56). The Spaniards imposed harsh conditions upon him and still he would not break or defy them, although at his command the people would have revolted. "He seemed to obey injunctions much harsher than the rules of grammar imposed upon little children, and with great patience endured everything in order to prevent an uprising of his subjects and his nobles. Any yoke seemed to him lighter than a revolt of his people" (Todorov 57). However, having the native leader as a subject to the Spaniards does not fully explain the conquest. The Spaniards framed their conquest as one set out for wealth (especially in regards to gold), but much of this wealth had already been taken by the Aztecs when they conquered the natives and furthermore by Montezuma's officials. It is this Aztec conquest that perhaps plays the biggest role in the success of the Spaniards. The Spaniards were originally met with little resistance because the natives had already been conquered. This past domination allowed for the Spaniardsto ally with the Tlaxcaltecs to fight the Aztecs (the Tlaxcaltecs felt oppressed by the Aztecs). The Spaniards were then able to capitalize on the already existing social division and push the split further. As the native society began to divide, the Spaniards used that time to destroy the native culture. In place of the former culture Spanish culture dominated and replaced it. The foreigners placed their cultural ideals, especially that of religion into the bloodstream of the former native culture. As a result, the Spanish did not conquer the natives through physical destruction but rather an abstract ideal; the destruction of a culture.