Cortés's Dogs of War: The Forgotten Weapon of the Conquest

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a chilling and often overlooked aspect of the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica: the use of war dogs. While steel swords and gunpowder get most of the attention, the conquistadors brought trained mastiffs and greyhounds that terrorized indigenous armies and were used as weapons of terror. Lucas details the specific breeds, their training, and how they were deployed in battle, including the infamous killing of Cuauhtémoc's envoys and the use of dogs during the Mixtón War. The episode also examines indigenous perspectives from the Florentine Codex and other sources, showing how these animals became symbols of Spanish brutality. The conversation pivots to the broader implications of using animals in warfare, drawing a line from the conquistadors to modern military working dogs. Lucas also discusses the controversy around the requerimiento and how dogs were sometimes used in lieu of reading the decree. The episode ends with a reflection on the ethics of weaponizing animals and the lasting memory of the 'perros de guerra' in indigenous oral tradition. #WarDogs #Conquistadors #Cortés #Mesoamerica #FlorentineCodex #Aztecs #SpanishConquest #MixtónWar #Mastiff #Greyhound #PerrosDeGuerra #IndigenousHistory #MilitaryDogs #BernalDíaz #Tlaxcala #Tenochtitlan #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo