September 1519 · Tlaxcala highlands Theater
September 1519
Marching inland, the Spanish ran into the Tlaxcalans — a fiercely independent confederation encircled by Aztec territory and never conquered by it. For two weeks Xicotencatl the Younger threw wave after wave at them in the hardest fighting Cortés had yet faced; the Spanish survived on discipline, terrain, and firepower, and were nearly worn down. Unable to break them, the Tlaxcalan lords changed course and offered alliance instead.
Commanders