User talk:185.13.202.154

Biased account of the facts and error in Bernal Diaz del Castillo's citation
The article has problems in its account of the facts.

1. Cite of Bernal Díaz: the line quotes "and, having seized so great a prince, execute his captains before his eyes?". The original quote is "and, having seized so great a prince, made justice of his captains before his eyes?". The Spanish conquistadors had warned in several occasions to Moctezuma that they did not want to engage in combat with his armies; the attack of Quetzalpopoca on Totonacs and Spaniards was considered as treason.

2. "prompted the crisis in Aztec-Spanish relations that provided Hernán Cortés with the pretext he needed to capture Moctezuma and overthrow the Aztec state" - This account is solely based in a modern source of an Anglosaxon author, influenced by the XVI-century English perspective of the facts (Hugh Thomas). If we attend to Bernal Díaz del Castillo "Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España", Hernan Cortés "Cartas de relación" and Bernardino de Sahagún "Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España", we see several moments in which Cortés insists Moctezuma to willingly and peacefully adopt the Catholic faith and be an ally of Emperor Charles I. In one and each of the cities they visit, no matter if they were Mayan, Totonac, Tlaxcaltec or Aztec, Cortés insisted in stopping ritual human sacrifices, rapes and "sodomies", destroy the idols and instead adore God and Virgin Mary. There is no evidence previous to that moment that Cortés wanted to overthrow Moctezuma and there are entire chapters in Bernal Diaz' book dedicated to admire his majesty. Cortés knew well of the might of the Aztec army, since they were told by all accounts that Moctezuma could easily have 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers in a battlefield, while the Spaniards were less than 350. It is very unlikely that Cortés intended from the beginning to deteriorate the Aztec-Spanish relations and directly confront or subjugate Moctezuma.

3. "The presence of the Spanish and their traditional enemies the Tlaxcalans caused unease in the city, especially following their massacre of the population of Cholula a few weeks previously". Cholula's massacre was prompted, according to both Spanish, Tlaxcaltec and Cholulan accounts, by an Aztec army that was sent from Tenochtitlan to aprehend the Spaniards. Moctezuma denied it later, but even Bernardino de Sahagún, using accounts from Tlaxcalan peoples 25 years later, confirmed their version. See chapters LXXXIII and LXXXIV of Bernal Díaz' book.

4. "Despite arguing and pleading with Cortes, Moctezuma eventually submitted to the Spanish" - This version is incomplete. According to Bernal Díaz, Cortés' captains insisted in killing Moctezuma on the spot for having ordered Quetzalpopoca to attack the garnison under Juan de Escalante's orders. One of them, Juan Velázquez, insisted to Cortés "with loud and terrifying voice". "Moctezuma saw our captains in anger and asked doña Marina what they said, and our doña Marina replied 'Lord Moctezuma, what I advice you is to go with them without any noise, since I know that you will be honored, as a great lord that you are, and otherwise you will be killed, and in his (Cortés') chamber the truth shall be known". Moctezuma agreed after hearing Marina's advice.

All in all, this article is plagued with words that evidence a negative version towards the Spaniards, further fueling the Black Legend. A more neutral approach might be more useful to readers and more accurate to the historic account.