Hostilities

Moctezuma becomes a prisoner

The Spaniards had entered Tenochtitlan peacefully on 8 November 1519, but their position was dangerous. Cortés and his men were surrounded by a much larger population in a city built on a lake. Their relationship with Moctezuma, the Mexica ruler, offered protection, but it did not guarantee their safety.

On 14 November 1519, Cortés used an attack on a Spanish coastal garrison as a reason to accuse Moctezuma of treachery and take him prisoner. Moctezuma was moved into the palace where the Spaniards were staying. He remained attended by his family and servants, but he was no longer free to act independently.

Holding the ruler as a hostage gave Cortés leverage over the empire. He could try to govern through Moctezuma rather than defeat the whole city in battle. Under Spanish pressure, more gold and silver were collected from subject states. Yet this arrangement also weakened Moctezuma’s authority: his people could see that their ruler was acting under the control of outsiders.

Cortés leaves to confront another Spanish force

In May 1520, a threat from other Spaniards drew Cortés away from Tenochtitlan. Diego Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, had sent Pánfilo de Narváez to arrest him for exceeding his authority. This was a struggle over Spanish leadership, not a Mexica attack.

Cortés left a smaller force in the capital under Pedro de Alvarado. He defeated Narváez, and many of Narváez’s men then joined him. Although this strengthened Cortés’s army, his absence gave Alvarado control at a moment when relations in Tenochtitlan were already tense.

The Toxcatl massacre turns tension into open warfare

During Cortés’s absence, Mexica nobles gathered for the religious festival of Toxcatl. Alvarado claimed to fear a plot against the Spaniards and ordered an attack on the gathering. His men killed unarmed members of the nobility.

The massacre provoked a furious uprising. Rather than securing Spanish control, it turned the city against the occupiers. Mexica forces attacked, and the Spaniards barricaded themselves inside their palace quarters.

Cortés returned on 24 June 1520 to find his men trapped and short of food. He ordered Moctezuma to reopen the marketplace, but the captive ruler argued that people would no longer obey him. Moctezuma suggested that his brother Cuitlahuac, an experienced warrior, could help. Once released, however, Cuitlahuac organised resistance instead of reopening the market. This showed how little control the Spaniards could now exercise through Moctezuma.

Moctezuma’s death: a disputed turning point

Cortés attempted to use Moctezuma to calm the uprising. The captive ruler was brought onto a roof to tell the crowd to stop attacking the Spaniards.

Accounts disagree about what followed. In the Spanish version, the crowd threw stones and other missiles, wounding Moctezuma, who subsequently died. Other accounts blamed the Spaniards for killing him. His death in late June 1520 is established, but responsibility for it remains disputed.

Either way, the Spaniards had lost the ruler whom they had hoped to use to control the city. Moctezuma’s captivity had already damaged his authority; his death removed him altogether as a possible intermediary.

The Spanish flight on 1 July 1520

Cortés decided to escape along the Tacuba causeway on the night of 30 June–1 July 1520. Tenochtitlan’s lake setting mattered: the Spaniards could not simply retreat across open countryside. They had to leave along a restricted route over the water.

Mexica warriors spotted the retreat and attacked. Large numbers of Spaniards were killed; accounts describe losses approaching half the conquistadors. Some prisoners were later sacrificed, and much of the seized treasure was lost, including gold that ended up in Lake Texcoco.

The Spaniards called the retreat Noche Triste, the ‘Night of Sorrows’. Cortés and the survivors eventually reached Tlaxcala, whose people were enemies of the Mexica and allies of the Spaniards. There they could rest and regroup.

For the Mexica, this was a successful expulsion of the invaders. For Cortés, it was a major defeat, but not the end of his campaign. The sequence shows the failure of his attempt to control Tenochtitlan through its captive ruler: hostage-taking weakened Moctezuma, the massacre triggered rebellion, and armed resistance forced the Spaniards out.

From captivity to uprising

• 14 November 1519: Cortés took Moctezuma prisoner after an attack on a Spanish coastal garrison. He used the ruler as a hostage to influence the empire and obtain treasure.
• May 1520: Cortés left to defeat Narváez, sent by Governor Velázquez to arrest him. Alvarado remained in command.
• Toxcatl massacre: Alvarado attacked unarmed nobles at a religious festival, claiming to fear a plot. The Mexica rose against the Spaniards and trapped them in their quarters.
• 24 June: Cortés returned. Moctezuma could not restore order; the released Cuitlahuac organised resistance.

Death and retreat

• Late June 1520: Moctezuma died. Competing accounts blamed wounds from the crowd’s missiles or killing by the Spaniards.
• Night of 30 June–1 July: Spaniards fled along the Tacuba causeway, were detected and suffered heavy losses.
• Noche Triste: many Spaniards died, some captives were sacrificed, and much treasure was lost. Survivors retreated to Tlaxcala.

Causal chain: captivity weakened Moctezuma’s authority → massacre provoked uprising → Spanish efforts to restore control failed → retreat.