S3E146 - The Battle of Otumba: Aztec Fury After La Noche Triste

In July 1520, Cortés and his surviving army stumbled out of Tenochtitlan after the disastrous Noche Triste — exhausted, wounded, and stripped of their horses and cannon. But the worst was yet to come. The Aztecs, now under the new huey tlatoani Cuitláhuac, massed a huge army on the plain of Otumba to finish the invaders for good. This episode reconstructs the desperate Battle of Otumba — July 7, 1520 — where a ragtag force of 400 Spaniards, 4,000 Tlaxcalan allies, and one great war horse named El Morcillo faced perhaps 40,000 Aztec warriors. We trace Cortés's tactical gamble, the critical role of Tlaxcalan infantry, and the m...