Following in the footsteps of the master
Geoffrey Parker
THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO by Hugh Thomas Hutchinson, £25, pp. 812
In the 1970s the Hudson Institute tried to simulate the Spanish conquest of Mexico between 1519 and 1521 as an exercise in strategic analysis and prediction. But they were disappointed: no matter how they configured the programme, Hernan Cortes and his small group of Spaniards always failed to destroy the Aztec empire.
Hitherto the standard English-language narrative account of the episode has remained The History of the Conquest of Mexico by William H. Prescott, first published in 1843. It ran to 700 pages, including footnotes, despite the fact that the author was half blind and depended on the work of learned colleagues and diligent archival researchers. Prescott began not with Spain but with Mexico (Book I of his story, running to 100 pages). Then came Spain and Cortes, their voyages of explo- ration approaching ever closer to the Aztec heartland (Book II) and finally marching to the Mexican capital, Tenochtitlan (Book III), occupying it (Book IV), withdrawing amid a powerful Azte :. counter-attack (Book V), followed by the final siege, surrender and destruction of Tenochtitlan (Book VI). Prescott's conc!usion assessed the personality, achievements and subsequent career of Hernan Cortes (Book VII); a few original documents appeared in an appendix.
The plan of Hugh Thomas's volume, exactly 150 years later, seems curiously similar. It runs to over 800 pages, including endnotes, and is also heavily dependent on the work of erudite colleagues (such as Edward Cooper for the aristocratic background in Castile) and archival researchers (especially Teresa Alzugaray, who transcribed documents in Seville, Simancas, and elsewhere which, claims the author, 'had it been left to me, would have taken me a lifetime'). Thomas's book also begins with ancient Mexico (although this time only 51 pages are devoted to its remarkable society: Part I), before we turn to 'Spain of the Golden Age' (Part II), the early voyages of explo- ration (Part III), the saga of the conquest (Parts IV-VII), and an 'Aftermath' which examines the personality, achievements, and subsequent career of Hernan Cortes (Part VIII). A few unpublished documents, some genealogical tables, and a description of the surviving primary sources bring up the rear.
To some extent, these similarities are inevitable because every account of the conquest has to deal with essentially the same facts; the Spaniards always win and the Aztecs always lose. However, Thomas takes advantage of numerous sources not available to, or ignored by, Prescott: most (but not all) of the indigenous Nahua `We'll have to learn to write.' codices, offering the Mexican view of the conquest, and some interesting material on Cortes — including new data on the town where he grew up (Medellin in Estrema- dura) and the sworn testimony of many of his contemporaries to a commission of enquiry established by the Crown after the conquest. In addition, Thomas has used to great effect recent scholarly work, both qualitative and quantitative. For example, he provides a judicious review of the con- tentious literature concerning the 'contact population' of Mexico (Appendix I), concluding that no reliable figure can yet be given; and he carefully evaluates the precise number and composition of the forces commanded by Cortes at each critical juncture, estimating that some 1800 Spaniards took part in the conquest between 1519 and 1521, of whom perhaps 800 survived to enjoy the spoils.
Thomas also examines with great care Cortes's skill in arranging alliances with groups hostile to the Mexicans, alliances without which the conquest could never have succeeded. He also notes the Aztecs' attempts to imitate European methods of warfare: first they began to aim at the death rather than the capture (for later sacrifice) of their enemies; then they began to use steel rather than obsidian blades; finally they secured the services of five Spanish crossbowmen. But it all happened just too late to save the Aztec supremacy. The Europeans never lost their technologi- cal lead.
Some of the episodes in the story are recreated in almost lyrical prose — for example, the savage fighting which preced- ed and accompanied the retreat of Cortes and his followers from Tenochtitlan during the `noche triste', and the ritual sacrifice and dismemberment of those Spaniards unlucky enough to fall into Aztec hands on a temple top within full sight and sound of their comrades. Part of Thomas's success in `set pieces' like this comes from his excel- lent combination of Spanish and Aztec sources. They make a rivetting read. Not all the writing rises to this level, however. Sometimes a series of staccato sentences jars the reader (four sentences in four lines on page 544, eight in six lines on page 548); at other times a somewhat obsessive use of footnotes distracts the reader. Do we need a footnote to prove that the Count of Benavente possessed an elephant in the 1520s — if so, see page 769, note 43; how significant to the conquest was the fact that Cristobal de Olid was
an Andalusian member of his [Cortfs's] household, a native of either Baeza or Linares (though of a family which probably came originally from Olite in Navarre) (p.115)?
Nevertheless, the excitement and the epic quality of the subject carries almost all before it. After 150 years, English readers at last have a book to replace Prescott, just as John Hemming's The Conquest of the Incas (1970) finally replaced Prescott's His- tory of the Conquest of Peru of 1847. In addition, Hugh Thomas shows the Hudson Institute exactly how Hernan Cortes and his small (but not so small) group of Spaniards managed to destroy the Aztec empire.
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