Hernan Cortes

Recorded sideSpanish and Tlaxcalan allies

Recorded resultsevere defeat during forced retreat

Spanish attempting to flee the city at night were caught on the causeways and routed; many drowned or were killed, weighed down by looted gold

The Aztecs caught the Spanish strung out on narrow causeways with broken bridges, negating cavalry and firearms and exploiting darkness and water. Encirclement on confined terrain and the collapse of Spanish cohesion turned the retreat into a slaughter.

What followed

The worst Spanish defeat of the campaign; nearly ended the expedition, but Cortes regrouped with Tlaxcalan support.

Recorded sideSpanish and Tlaxcalan allies

Recorded resultvictory

Cortes' outnumbered force survived a massed Aztec attack; a cavalry charge that killed the Aztec commander and seized his standard broke the enemy's coordination

On open ground, the few remaining Spanish horsemen could maneuver. Cortes targeted the enemy commander carrying the battle standard; killing/capturing him and taking the standard collapsed Aztec command-and-control and morale, allowing the exhausted Spanish to escape toward Tlaxcala.

What followed

Saved the expedition after Noche Triste and allowed the Spanish to reach safety and rebuild for the siege.

Recorded sideSpanish and indigenous allies

Recorded resultdecisive victory

After a roughly three-month siege, the Spanish-led coalition cut off the city, controlled the lake with brigantines, starved and stormed it, and captured Cuauhtemoc

Cortes used brigantines to dominate Lake Texcoco, severing the causeways and the city's food and fresh-water supply, then ground inward in combined-arms urban assaults backed by overwhelming native-ally manpower. Decisively, a smallpox epidemic (introduced via the Spanish, 1520) had already devastated the defenders and killed earlier leadership before and during the siege (disease impact widely cited, exact mortality disputed).

What followed

Ended the Aztec empire and established Spanish rule in central Mexico (later Mexico City).