July 7th, 1520 - The Battle of Otumba

Conflict: Conquest of the New World

Combatants: Aztecs vs. Spanish

Location: Mexico

Outcome: Spanish victory

After being driven from Tenochtitlan, Hernando Cortez's force of 200 Spanish conquistadors and several thousand Meso-American allies was attacked by a large Aztec army. Though suffering heavy losses, Cortez's troops managed to rout the Aztecs and return to Tenochtitlan to lay siege.

Battle of Otumba by Manuel Rodriguez de Guzman

Points of Interest:

• The Aztecs were hated by fellow Meso-American peoples for their brutal conquests and seemingly unquenchable penchant for human sacrifice. Thus many became willing allies to the cunning but often equally brutal Cortez.

• The Spanish and their allies would destroy the Atzec capital of Tenochtitlan in August of the 1520.

Portrait of Hernán Cortés, Toledo by an unknown artist

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Sources:

Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, & Bongard, David L. (1992). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military Biography. New York: Castle Books (HarperCollins).

Dupuy, R. Ernest & Dupuy, Trevor N. (1993). The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: HarperCollins.

Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles: Accounts of Over 1,560 Battles from 1479 B.C. to the Present. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.