Cuitláhuac
Huey Tlatoani of Tenochtitlan (1520)
"They are not gods. They bleed, and they can be driven into the water."
Biography
Moctezuma's younger brother and the lord of Iztapalapa, Cuitláhuac had argued against admitting the Spanish to Tenochtitlan from the beginning and was among those held with Moctezuma in the Spanish compound. When Alvarado's massacre at the festival of Toxcatl set the city alight in May 1520, the Mexica needed a war leader, and the Spanish — needing someone to quiet the streets — released him. It was the worst decision Cortés's garrison ever made. Elected Huey Tlatoani after Moctezuma's death, Cuitláhuac did in weeks what his brother had failed to do in months: he organised the siege of the Spanish compound, tore up the causeway bridges, and turned the retreat of June 30 into La Noche Triste, the near-annihilation of the invaders. He then began rebuilding the city's defences and working to hold the empire's wavering tributaries in line, correctly identifying Tlaxcala as the centre of gravity. He ruled for eighty days. Smallpox, carried ashore by Narváez's expedition, swept Tenochtitlan that autumn and killed him in December 1520 — the ablest opponent the Spanish faced in Mexico, destroyed by a disease his people had no defence against.
Did you know?
He inflicted the worst defeat any conquistador army ever suffered and reigned for barely eighty days — killed not by the Spanish but by the smallpox their reinforcements had brought ashore.
Key Battles
The Toxcatl Massacre and the Uprising
Aztec & Inca Empires victoryMay 22, 1520 · 1,000 total casualties
Alvarado destroyed in an afternoon what Cortés had spent six months building. Moctezuma, brought out to calm the crowds, was stoned by his own people and died days later; the hostage strategy was finished. From this moment the Spanish were not guests in Tenochtitlan but a trapped garrison in a hostile city.
La Noche Triste (The Night of Sorrows)
Aztec & Inca Empires victoryJune 30, 1520 · 6,000 total casualties
The worst defeat any conquistador force ever suffered, and the moment the conquest nearly ended. Cortés lost his artillery, his horses, his plunder, and most of his men. That he survived at all — and returned a year later to take the city — is why the night is remembered by the name the Spanish gave it while weeping under a tree at Tacuba.
Life Journey
Timeline
c. 1476
🌅 Birth
Born a Mexica prince; later lord of Iztapalapa
November 8, 1519
⚔️ Battle
Opposes admitting the Spanish; held with Moctezuma
May 22, 1520
⚔️ Battle
Released to calm the city after the Toxcatl massacre
June 30, 1520
⚔️ Battle
Leads the destruction of the Spanish on the causeways
December 1, 1520
✝️ Death
Dies of smallpox after eighty days as tlatoani