Chad Harrison
Weapons of the Conquistadores
The picture above attempts to show a few of the weapons and armaments used by the Spaniards in their conquest of Mexico. According to Bernard Grunberg, who set out to trace the origins of the Conquistadores, Cortes landed in Mexico with, “508 soldiers, including 32 crossbowmen and 13 escopeteros (musketeers, gunmen), and 109 seamen on 11 ships.” He would later be joined by more Spaniards from another expedition, but the number remains striking; how could a force of men this size capture a city of about 200,000? What is even more amazing is the Grunberg found that “real soldiers were very few, and officers nonexistent.” The Spanish forces were made up of seaman, carpenters, and laborers. Many historians point to the weapons of the Spaniards as one of the major advantages Cortes exploited in the conquest of Mexico.
The most obvious weapon in use here is the horse, which was unknown in central Mexico, at least as a weapon of devastating cavalry charges. The cavalry of Western Europe was used mainly to outflank an enemy already engaged with ground troops, usually light infantry. The cavalry would charge from the side or behind if possible, causing mass confusion, injury and death. With most of the Siege of Tenochtitlan taking place on Lake Texcoco and in the streets of the city itself, the mass cavalry charge would be more difficult to employ.
However, Bernaz del Castillo, one of Cortes’ own men, describes the effect that horseman did have during the battle. “When the people of the city saw that there were no horsemen with us they turned again on the Spaniards and drove them from the towers and courts… The Spaniards, unable to withstand the onset of the enemy, retreated in great danger and would have suffered great loss had it not pleased God that at that moment three horsemen should arrive… the horsemen killed some of them and we regained the courts and enclosure…. Five or six horsemen had now arrived… they killed over thirty of the enemy.” Even without the use of the mass charge tactics, the Spanish horsemen were able to kill roughly five or six enemy soldiers a piece. The psychological impact of seeing the horsemen inflict such losses is obvious.
Another weapon pictured is the light, but sharp sword used by the Spaniards. A descendant of the Roman gladius, the sword may account for many of the Spanish victories after bullets and powder, the traditionally viewed superior weaponry, had long run dry. As a further testament to its superiority, “the Aztecs quickly employed the precious few Castilian swords and lances the captured.”
The armor used by the Spaniards afforded them little protection against the bludgeoning weapons of the Aztecs. Most Spaniards were originally captured and killed later, but in the siege of Tenochtitlan, the clubs were able to kill a helmeted and armored Spaniard just as well. The main advantage arose in tactics.
Cortes had eighty crossbowmen and harquebusiers at his disposal during the battle. By placing his harquebusiers in formation behind armored swordsmen, and crossbowmen at the rear, Cortes was able to bring deadly fire down on the Aztecs any time they amassed into a large group. The strategy resulted in Aztec casualties growing horrifically high, as the Spaniards main enemy became exhaustion of both the swordsmen and the ammo supplies.
Bernard Grunberg, “The Origins of the Conquistadores of Mexico City,” The Hispanic American Historical Review 74 (1994): 259-283.
Victor Davis Hanson , Carnage and Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 171-232
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, trans. A.P. Maudslay (New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956) 408.
The Creative Assembly Limited, SEGA of America Inc, Weapons of the Conquistadores, Digital Photograph, 2007, Sugar Hill, GA.
For more information about the Arquebus, please visit:
Weapons of the Conquistadores
The picture above attempts to show a few of the weapons and armaments used by the Spaniards in their conquest of Mexico. According to Bernard Grunberg, who set out to trace the origins of the Conquistadores, Cortes landed in Mexico with, “508 soldiers, including 32 crossbowmen and 13 escopeteros (musketeers, gunmen), and 109 seamen on 11 ships.” He would later be joined by more Spaniards from another expedition, but the number remains striking; how could a force of men this size capture a city of about 200,000? What is even more amazing is the Grunberg found that “real soldiers were very few, and officers nonexistent.” The Spanish forces were made up of seaman, carpenters, and laborers. Many historians point to the weapons of the Spaniards as one of the major advantages Cortes exploited in the conquest of Mexico.
The most obvious weapon in use here is the horse, which was unknown in central Mexico, at least as a weapon of devastating cavalry charges. The cavalry of Western Europe was used mainly to outflank an enemy already engaged with ground troops, usually light infantry. The cavalry would charge from the side or behind if possible, causing mass confusion, injury and death. With most of the Siege of Tenochtitlan taking place on Lake Texcoco and in the streets of the city itself, the mass cavalry charge would be more difficult to employ.
However, Bernaz del Castillo, one of Cortes’ own men, describes the effect that horseman did have during the battle. “When the people of the city saw that there were no horsemen with us they turned again on the Spaniards and drove them from the towers and courts… The Spaniards, unable to withstand the onset of the enemy, retreated in great danger and would have suffered great loss had it not pleased God that at that moment three horsemen should arrive… the horsemen killed some of them and we regained the courts and enclosure…. Five or six horsemen had now arrived… they killed over thirty of the enemy.” Even without the use of the mass charge tactics, the Spanish horsemen were able to kill roughly five or six enemy soldiers a piece. The psychological impact of seeing the horsemen inflict such losses is obvious.
Another weapon pictured is the light, but sharp sword used by the Spaniards. A descendant of the Roman gladius, the sword may account for many of the Spanish victories after bullets and powder, the traditionally viewed superior weaponry, had long run dry. As a further testament to its superiority, “the Aztecs quickly employed the precious few Castilian swords and lances the captured.”
The armor used by the Spaniards afforded them little protection against the bludgeoning weapons of the Aztecs. Most Spaniards were originally captured and killed later, but in the siege of Tenochtitlan, the clubs were able to kill a helmeted and armored Spaniard just as well. The main advantage arose in tactics.
Cortes had eighty crossbowmen and harquebusiers at his disposal during the battle. By placing his harquebusiers in formation behind armored swordsmen, and crossbowmen at the rear, Cortes was able to bring deadly fire down on the Aztecs any time they amassed into a large group. The strategy resulted in Aztec casualties growing horrifically high, as the Spaniards main enemy became exhaustion of both the swordsmen and the ammo supplies.
Bernard Grunberg, “The Origins of the Conquistadores of Mexico City,” The Hispanic American Historical Review 74 (1994): 259-283.
Victor Davis Hanson , Carnage and Culture (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 171-232
Bernal Diaz del Castillo, The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, trans. A.P. Maudslay (New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1956) 408.
The Creative Assembly Limited, SEGA of America Inc, Weapons of the Conquistadores, Digital Photograph, 2007, Sugar Hill, GA.
For more information about the Arquebus, please visit: