Do you know the interesting story of an army of around 500 who defeated and took over an empire of 1 6 million people!?
There were helped by a very small helper!
So small that it had the name SMALL in its name! Yes that was a joke! It was named SMALL after a disease but it was (Still is!) really small!
Five hundred years ago, in February of 1519, the Spaniard Hernán Cortés set sail from Cuba to explore and colonize Aztec civilization in the Mexican interior.
Within just two years, Aztec ruler Montezuma was dead, the capital city of Tenochtitlan was captured and Cortés had claimed the Aztec empire for Spain!
Cortés with his 500 men then headed into the Mexican interior. This region was home to the Aztec civilization, an empire of an estimated 16 million people at this time. Through a system of conquest and tribute, the Aztecs had established the great island city of Tenochtitlan in Lake Texcoco that ruled over an area of about 80,000 square miles.
Imagine an army of 500 overpowering a country of over 16 million!
Now of course Spanish weaponry and tactics played a role, but most of the destruction was wrought by a small member of ANOTHER TEAM!
This member caused an epidemics of European diseases!
After helping conquer Cuba for the Spanish, Cortés was commissioned to lead an expedition to the mainland. When his small fleet landed, he ordered his ships scuttled, eliminating any possibility of retreat and conveying the depth of his resolve!
But if it was not for that little member; it would have been a difficult mission!
The member was a virus which causes SMALL POX!
Having lived in the Americas isolated from European and Asian livestock and germs, indigenous groups had no genetic resistance to the smallpox virus! Which means that they had zero defence!
The outbreak arrived in 1520 via an infected soldier in Hernán Cortés’s force and tore through the densely populated capital of Tenochtitlan!
Historical accounts note that the virus killed between one-third and one-half of the population in central Mexico in a single year!
When the leader is dead nothing can be done! The disease killed the Aztec emperor Cuitláhuac (who had succeeded Montezuma) along with many other military commanders and nobles!
So many people fell sick at once that there was no one left to nurse the sick, bury the dead, or harvest crops, causing mass starvation!
With society paralyzed by illness and grief, the military command structure fractured, making it much easier for Cortés and his local native allies to lay siege to and conquer Tenochtitlan in Augus!
So nothing is very SMALL!
Then again some thing or people may have a short term in action but their time is remembered for long and how!
Like Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Madhavan Nair! His movies and actions now are legendary!
You may know him by the name: Jayan!
Shubh ratri…
ramadocblog 