The Cholula Massacre: Terror as Spanish Tactic

In October 1519, just months after landing on the Mexican coast, Hernán Cortés and his army perpetrated a massacre in the great religious center of Cholula that killed thousands of unarmed nobles and commoners. This episode examines the Cholula massacre as a calculated act of psychological warfare that shattered indigenous resistance before the final march on Tenochtitlan. We explore the political context: Cholula was a city-state allied with the Aztec Empire but also sacred to the god Quetzalcoatl, making it a crucial diplomatic target. Cortés claimed he acted on intelligence from La Malinche about a planned ambush, but indigenous accounts from the Florentine Codex and the Lienzo de Tlaxcala suggest a premeditated slaughter designed to intimidate Moctezuma and secure Tlaxcalan loyalty. We also discuss the Cholulteca leader Tlaquiach and the aftermath that turned Cholula into a ghost town. This episode fills a gap in the show's narrative by focusing on a specific, pivotal act of terror that forever changed the course of the conquest. #CholulaMassacre #Cortés #LaMalinche #Tlaxcala #Moctezuma #FlorentineCodex #LienzodeTlaxcala #Tlaquiach #Quetzalcoatl #Mesoamerica #Aztec #Conquistadors #SpanishConquest #PsychologicalWarfare #1519 #History #FexingoHistory #NewSpain Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo