May 26 – August 13, 1521 · Valley of Mexico Theater
May 26 – August 13, 1521
Cortés returned with a coalition army of perhaps 80,000 indigenous allies and thirteen brigantines, built in Tlaxcala and carried overland in pieces to be launched on the lake. The brigantines swept away the canoe fleet and cut the causeways; the city, already gutted by smallpox, was starved and then taken street by street, with the Spanish demolishing every building as they advanced to deny cover. After 93 days Cuauhtémoc was captured trying to escape by canoe.
Commanders