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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chrisling" data-source="post: 396416" data-attributes="member: 6816">This isn't precisely true.  While the ravages of disease did decimate the Aztec and Peruvian populations, the populations were still well away and large to to kill the Spaniards if they had known how.  There were literally thousands of Aztecs or Peruvians for each Spaniard.To focus on the Aztecs, what Cortez specifically and very knowingly did was unite the tribes that had been conquered by the Aztecs and urged them to rise up at the same time and form an army behind him.  It was the weakness of the Aztec political system that this was possible -- the Aztec garrisons in the conquered territories were completely unable to handle the job of a real local rebellion, much less one aided by the canny Cortez.  Montezuma would have fallen regardless of the disease factor, which is overplayed (because the disease weakened his allies as much as his enemies).  This is all pretty standard history.Pizarro in Peru did a play by play repeat of Cortez -- and it worked.  All the same tricks that Cortez used in Mexico worked in Peru.  It's actually sorta disappointing to read about because it really does show the difference in the technology of power between to pre-Columbians and the Europeans.</blockquote>