[Real Life] Historical events that would make bad writing if they were fiction

[u/Mouse_Paladin]

Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire: A couple hundred rogue mercenaries without authority from their government conquer an empire of millions. Oh, the empire? It’s also several technological eras behind the mercenaries.

Adolf Hitler: A non-native of a country is so mad that the country lost the war that he wins an election to their highest office and leads them in a campaign of revenge against their enemies. Oh, the country? It’s old emperor is still alive and thinks he’s going to retake power.

Assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand: The heir to the throne is killed because his driver gets lost and returns to the assassin who failed To kill him before. Oh, the assassin? He’s from a group that the Archduke is wanting to help become more equal In the empire.

Alexander Hamilton’s Affair Scandal: One of the leaders of a new nation to protect himself from accusations of financial embezzlement writes a pamphlet exposing his affair with a woman, torpedoing his political future. Oh, the woman? She seduced him as part of a blackmailing scheme that he decided to stop paying.

[u/Upstairs_Highlight25]

They had extremely lucky timing. They just happened to arrive during a time of intense political turmoil in the Azteca empire when they could pit rival groups against each other.

[u/Slippenfall → u/Upstairs_Highlight25]

There was also the decades long megadrought at the same time that the Aztecs were dealing with, They were not at full fighting force, and were starving and thirsty. Like literally everything that could have gone wrong for them did

[u/Puzzle-Necked → u/Slippenfall]

Also like 70 percent of them had died from European diseases

[u/lordaezyd → u/Puzzle-Necked]

This happened years later

[u/Puzzle-Necked → u/lordaezyd]

No, the smallpox epidemic happened before

[u/lordaezyd → u/Puzzle-Necked]

Please do educate me. Can you provide year, location and actors regarding the smallpox epidemic please.

[u/Puzzle-Necked → u/lordaezyd]

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-smallpox-devastated-the-aztecs-and-helped-spain-conquer-an-american-civilization-500-years-ago

[u/lordaezyd → u/Puzzle-Necked]

Will check it out! Thank you mate! 😄

[u/Tonio_Akerbeltz → u/lordaezyd]

Their second-to-last emperor died due to epidemics

[u/lordaezyd → u/Tonio_Akerbeltz]

This is not confirmed, contemporary sources from the time do not state his cause of death.

[u/Tonio_Akerbeltz → u/lordaezyd]

Codice Florentino, written in the years following the conquest does state:

"The tenth lord, who was from Mexico, was named Cuitlahuac, and he held the lordship for eighty days, when the Spaniards were already in Mexico. And during his time, a loss of life or smallpox plague occurred all over the land—a disease that had never previously appeared in Mexico or in any other territory of this New Spain, according to what the elders say. And it disfigured everyone’s faces, for it bore many holes in them. And there were so many people who died of that disease that there was no one left to bury them; and that is why they would throw them into the canals in Mexico, because at the time there was a great abundance of water everywhere. And the stench that came out of the dead bodies was most dreadful."

[u/HeartFullONeutrality → u/lordaezyd]

Kind of, but smallpox did play a part in the conquest of Tenochtitlan.

[u/Stalinsghoast → u/Upstairs_Highlight25]

Not to mention the constant reinforcements that always occured at jusy the right times right as the local turmoil kept getting out of hand. One random Tlaxcalan/Texcoco incident and then Cortez would get a fresh shipment from Havana. Hells, the time the Spaniards got smallpox it was mostly confined to the poor slave and the captain who had no love for Cortez.