Jewish Revolt

[Gaius Decius Aquilius]

Read Bernal Diaz. Unlesss it is banned there. (It is not PC). The Conquest of of Mexico has to be one of the incredable feats of history from any perspective. Your remark would have not been sounded so condecending if you knew the political and social situation there. A lot of my professinal work has been on the Spanish, and things are a bit more complex that the usual stereotype. That is, of course why I want to make a film about it. The Triple Aliance was very strong and hard to defeat, but the main Spanish ally, the Talascalans found the Spanish a much better deal than Aztec domination. They disappear from the archaeological record quickly because they assimilated rapidly. Many of the original group of Cortez's army did not want too many other Spanish showing up so and not to have them share the loot. THe Spanish could beat anybody of the time and they knew it. THey get lesser credit in modern history than they deserve. Most older histories written in English in the 1880s to the 1920s were written with a bias against Spain and to a certain extent Catholocism. THe popular stereotype comes from them. More modern histories are more balanced.

The later Mixton Wars were quite brutal, and both sides were given to excessses.

Mst of my work, reguarding the Spanish occupation of New Mexico and northern Mexico has been on the Spanish military material culture of the 16th century. I do not do any work in Mexico anymore because of the drug cartels and the de facto civil war that no one will call as such, that is going on now. Also, the rampant corruption make it impossible to do any real work.

Ralph