Heroes and Villains - Hernan Cortes 6/6 (CC)

Heroes and Villains - Hernan Cortes Part 6

If you're a lover of 16th-century history, best steer clear of this. A drama documentary is always going to flounder trying to re-create the clash-of-civilisations story of Hernan Cortes's conquest of Mexico - it's on too horrific a scale. (Maybe Hollywood should try.) But at least Brian McCardie's gutsy performance in the Heroes and Villains strand gives us a flavour of what might have driven Cortes - a mixture of piety, dread and sheer, mad-eyed folly. Watching McCardie, hedged with re-enactments and computer effects, you can just about swallow that a deranged adventurer and a handful of men, with no authority from the King of Spain and supplies pinched from the Governor of Cuba, could bring down the Aztec empire, which included a city (Tenochtitlan) bigger than anything in Europe.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Heroes
• and
• Villains
• Hernan
• Cortes
• Mexico
• Documentary

[kepler1000]

Why can't people accept that the Aztecs were backward and behind the times even for the 1500s. Basically you had two oppressive empires facing off and the one with the better technology and plan won. That is history and that is the way it has always been, and the way it will always be. You just hope the better side wins, as in the this case. The Spanish by modern day standards are oppressive and bad, but by the standards of the day they were the norm.

[Lieblingsfachful]

Awesome movie. It always amazes me just how many perils these men faced. They were just a band of some no more than a thousand and they were a;ways surrounded. Circumstances that would have tested the bravest of individuals....For that, we can truly admire their valour and courage in the face of overwhelming odds and power.

[1czechit1]

oh irony. condemning the bloody christians for the murder of people in the "name of religion" by a pagan canabal whose entire religion is based on human sacrifice. hmmmmm.

[nikitoe370]

Europeans had more advanced technology because in Europe, you had to work hard in order to survive. People thought, invented their whole lives, while in aztec lands you only had to go out of your home and walk 200 meters to find an animal to eat or a tree to gather fruits. Aztecs had food and shelter which made them lazy and not try to think of new ways of using materials.

[abhijitkh09]

@kepler1000 A few centuries ago even Europeans had none of these things. Don't forget in our part of world, we learnt a lot from each other. e.g. gun powder that gave Spanish decisive advantage was invented in China along with many advancements in chemistry and engineering. Advances in Maths, medicines and metallurgy were lead by Indians. Persians and Byzantine gave contribution in their way. We learnt from each other while Meso-Americans didn't have this advantage.

[Lieblingsfachful]

@AlexSpartan I know sir. Sir, but compare those just 20,000 compared to an empire of several million. The odds are still overwhelming.

[AlexSpartan]

@Lieblingsfachful Do some research. The Spanish always had native allies with them in all the battles. In the siege of Tenochtitlan they had 150,000 native allies to 1,000 Spanish. History Channel has never done history Justice. Check out this clip. watch?v=Us52tqtn7TA

[AlexSpartan]

@Graham6762 By the way here is some little research.In May 1521, Captain-General Hernán Cortés, with 900 Spaniards, 118 crossbows and harquebuses, fifteen bronze cannons and three heavy guns, thirteen brigantines, and as many as 150,000 Indian warriors, approached the entrance to Tenochtitlán. The siege of Tenochtitlán lasted from May 26 to August 13, 1521. Next time do research before calling someone dumb.

[AlexSpartan]

@Graham6762 LOL do some research. But yea 1000 Spanish defeated an army of 300,000 Aztecs with their Magic guns with the unlitmited ammo cheat and God mode turned on Please. LOL at your rationale. Go play video games and watch history channel documentaries. Everyone know the History Channel has become a joke for actual history. It just tries to appeal to the casuals. Its the CoD of history. Check out WKUK History Channel video.

[TheSpaniard1521]

@GoHardMG It is not Bullshit not all Mexicans are the same some are lighter and have less Native American in them others are darker