Before Us

Tis’ The Ides!

I don’t know why I get so excited on the Ides of March, but I do! I think it’s because it’s a day that revolves around this historical event that people are becoming more and more unaware of - so I have to remind them. Not remind them of what happened, everyone knows it was when Julius Caesar got stabbed on the floor of the senate (if you didn’t know that you’re a dummy!) but remind them of how much of a badass Caesar was!

Now, let’s first look at him in the context of HIS OWN era please. If we were to judge this guy in the context of the modern day he would inevitably be a monster.  He slaughtered thousands in his conquest of Gaul and was a pretty ruthless leader. HOWEVER, things were done differently back then folks, if you were the leader of an Empire or State that’s expanding it’s just how things were done.  ANYWAYS, I’m not here to talk about how much of a military genius he was, he absolutely was that… I’m more interested in his day to day being a badass. 

In his teens/early 20’s he was marked for death and was forced to go into hiding. Sulla was purging Rome of his enemies and, not simply by kicking them out of town, but by kicking them out of town and having their bodies replaced by a stick in the ground. Julius was the nephew of Sulla’s most bitter rival Marius and because family name had A LOT to do with future success in Rome, he couldn’t have him around.  Kind of a bummer way to start off your collegiate years. However, it wasn’t too long until Sulla died and he could return to Rome - where he lived modestly because his inheritance was confiscated - but still rose to fame. He wore his Toga differently, which became a fashion statement emulated by the youth of Rome. He went into legal advocacy and persecuted former governors for extortion and corruption. He was 22.

NOW, we have come to my favourite moment of all in young Caesars life. It might be myth, but given what he accomplished LATER in life, I choose to take it as pretty damn accurate.  In this era of his early 20’s Caesar was taken prisoner by pirates as he was crossing the Aegean sea. This sort of thing happened all the time. Pirates were a huge problem in ancient sea faring. If you were of the lower class and you were captured by pirates, it was likely you would be sold into slavery - and do that for the rest of your life. Bummer. If you were an upper class gent and you were captured, likely the pirates would ask for a ransom for your safe return. This is what the pirates did with young Julius. So they asked for a ransom of 20 talents of silver. Caesar insisted to these pirates that he was worth at least 50. He was very talkative in captivity actually, and maintained an air of superiority over these pirates during the entire ordeal. At one point even insisting that if he was freed, he promised he would return to the pirates and kill all of them. THAT IS SOME LIAM NEESON TYPE SHIT.

So the ransom was paid and shortly after, Caesar raised a fleet, pursued, captured and imprisoned the pirates. He crucified every single one of them and as an act of leniency cut their throats first. He wasn’t yet 25 years old. BADASS.

I love that story simply because it shows at such a young age what this man would grow to become. 6 Years later in 69 BC while serving as an official in Spain, Caesar is said to have come across a statue of Alexander the Great and began to openly weep at the sight of it. He was 31 years old had had not yet achieved anything compared to the greatness of Alexander - who at his age already had much of the known world conquered. 

We all know where this would lead him. From politics to the army. From the army to civil war. From civil war to his dictatorship. From his dictator ship to 23 stab wounds on the floor of the senate. Caesars life and death are one of the pillars that hold up the modern world, his assassination a desperate act by a republic that was in the process of dying.  

Oh and hey, today we are watching a Republic die! So here’s to the Bewaring the Ides of March. 

Don’t worry!

I still love history. New post coming soon!

Ancient FAILiens.

So a couple of months ago I was house sitting for my parents who have HDTV and whenever I do that I like to pop on the History Channel to see what shows about Hitler are on. At this particular time however there was a show on called “Ancient Aliens”… In this particular episode they were talking about ancient stone structures like stonehenge and deducing that the only conceivable way these structures were built was with the aid of extra-terrestrials. They came to that conclusion based on the astrological alignment of these kinds of stone structures all around the world. The fact that the ancient people could align them so perfectly with events like the solstice and equinox is ASTONISHING!  

However, I started to think on my own, in a RATIONAL way. We evolved from hunters and gatherers. Our species lived symbiotically with nature for hundreds and thousands of years… then we developed agriculture, and needed to understand nature even more intensely. Then our species started hanging out in groups and began to develop belief structures that were a bit more complex. Nature was obviously a huge factor in structuring these beliefs and thus they studied the hell out of it. they mapped the stars in the sky, the sun and the moon - and they had thousands of years to do this BEFORE building these ‘structures’. So basically, with a few thousands of years of study and some good old fashioned heavy lifting, fantastic things are possible.  

This show however gave me an idea for my next blog entry. I acquired episode 1 of “Ancient Aliens” and below is my painful dissection of its rhetoric. 

Episode 1 starts off with a bunch of modern technology doing modern stuff like rockets going into space, machines building superstructures and cutting through rocks and shuff. AND THEN, they ask the question, 

“Are these examples of modern technology or is there evidence that these incredible achievements existed on earth thousands of years ago… could ancient man have possessed knowledge far beyond that of our own century and if so, where did it come from?”

This is the basic premise of the whole show. What really makes me angry is that it immediately demeans the intelligence of people who lived only thousands of years ago. People whose brains, in an evolutionary sense, are IDENTICAL to ours, and capable of the same problem solving as us.  The whole basis of the show is to give credence to the theory that monumental achievements in science and technology are not a product of human ingenuity, but handouts from ALIENS.

Episode 1 is called, “The Evidence”. I am going to look closely at this evidence to see if it would stand up in court. (hint: It wont)

Exhibit A: The Saqqara bird. 

An ancient bird figurine discovered in the oldest pyramid in Egypt. The argument being that the because the wing of the figurine is the modern aerodynamic design - thick at the front and thin at the back AND that the back of the bird is not a tail but it looks like rudder. The show goes on to demonstrate how a model 5 times larger than the figurine performs in a wind tunnel and then basically tells us that its IDENTICAL TO A MODERN GLIDER.  Then when confronted with the question of how the ancient Egyptians would launch a glider there is a HILARIOUS computer rendering of a catapult launching this one thats the size of a Buick. So basically they conclude that because they found a 4 inch wooden figurine of a bird in a tomb, that the egyptians were capable of flying and that the only reasonable explanation is that aliens visited and told them how to do it. “Experts” are on TV telling us that extra terrestrial beings traveled millions of light years in order to teach ancient Egyptians how to carve an aerodynamic toy bird so that we could, 4000 years later, develop GLIDERS. HOW ABOUT THIS FOR A THEORY: An Egyptian who lived in a society capable of building GIANT PYRAMIDS saw a bird in the sky and then carved one out of wood and gave it to his son so he could throw it around!?? It’s what i call “Kids in grade 3 are capable of building things like this in the modern day” theory.

Exhibit B: Tolima Fighter Jets.

Recently, explorers stumbled upon an ancient gravesite deep in the jungles of South America. They discovered a pre-columbian civilization known as the Tolima and vast amounts of golden artifacts. Hundreds of tiny golden figurines. Amongst these, were what the show dubbed the “Tolima Fighter Jets” because they look soooooo much like modern day fighter jets.  Or insects, i might say insects… But then an “expert” guy reminds us that insects don’t have wings at the bottom and instead of maybe deducting that it’s perhaps easier to craft the golden wings at the bottom because of his ancient gold molding techniques he instead says “nope, thats a plane a bona-fide modern FIGHTER JET”. sigh…  So again they built a larger replica of this ONE INCH PIECE OF GOLD JEWELRY. BUT they dont build it out of gold! They built it out of lightweight wood! Then they put an engine in it! And they put a PROPELLOR on the front! Then they made it fly via REMOTE CONTROL! Then the show plays some heroic music, because this is NOT AT ALL a ridiculous experiment proving something stupid! And yet again an “EXPERT” says that it is sensational that this ancient culture knew about aerodynamics because him and his pals built a model airplane that happens to resemble an ancient earring.  At this point i really want to beat the fuck out of these guys.

Exhibit C: Ancient Indian “Vimanas”.

Now some say “Vimanas” are Mythological airships described in Sanskrit epics. Basically some ancient Indian myths described men ascending to the heavens in chariots and fantastical machines and then the SHOW refers to something called the Vaimanika-Shaastra (published in 1959) which describes these crazy flying machines to be controlled by gyroscopes and fueled by mercury and controlled by THE MIND. Oh i forgot to tell you that the source of this reputable paper on ancient technology is “MENTAL CHANNELING”.  Then they talk about this paper for a while but give the SOURCE, they shouldn’t give it more than a “PSHAW”. Whoever is involved in this TV show should be ashamed of themselves. This Vaimanika-Shastra is basically the Indian Version of Jules Verne and just to insult this show a bit more, the Indian drawings of flying machines are absurdly un-aerodynamic and weird looking. 

SO, based on this MENTALLY CHANNELED text the show goes on and on saying that all the ancient cultures were connected and that there were ancient AIRPORTS for the flying machines (of which there is no physical evidence at all) claiming that the similarities in building styles and beliefs suggest that all world cultures were connected by ancient flying machines and not because y’know, we are all human and a similar species and will probably do things… similarly. The definite conclusions these experts jump to on literally ZERO evidence is astounding. 

Just look at this dumbass;

Exhibit D:  Magic Carpets were spaceships

… gah Shut the fuck up. Just… I can’t go on, this is just to god damn stupid.  I’m done watching this ridiculousness.

In the following 5 minutes they go to the book of Ezekiel in which he describes a celestial chariot powered by angels and then one expert says: “well if you consider that the word angels actually means “celestial force, or FIRE, then what its talking about is probably a spaceship”. So then i have another theory, if you take the word ‘angels’ to actually mean “Celery” then it was a giant chariot with celery coming out of it. The possibilities are endless… and so is the stupidity of this show.

I cringe to think of the people who are swallowing this stuff. It does NOT belong on any channel promoting historical education. It is Non-scientific, anti-academic bullshit that is INSULTING to anyone who is a HUMAN BEING.  This is as bad or worse than people trying to shove creationism down our throats, because it dresses itself up as science and history and idiots dumb enough to swallow gods theories will definitely be susceptible to this garbage. 

Please, only watch this show in order to study the faces of the “Experts”. In the hopes that if you pass them in the street one day, you can hit them with things.

Ian Thomas Day

He who controls the Spice controls the universe…

What kind of DICK starts a history blog off with a quote from DUNE? 

This one. As it applies quite nicely to the tale I want to tell. The tale isn’t about Sci-Fi stuff or fantasy stuff… or about Sting hanging around with a gross fat guy and a bunch of sand worms. NO, its about ambition, exploration, greed, tragedy and the Portuguese! 

Okay first off. Who am I talking about? None other than Ferdinand Magellan! Now when i mentioned to people that my next topic was going to be about Magellan, i got alot of people who would jokingly refer to that Dr. Scholls insole commercial where the characters constantly referred to themselves as “Gellin”. If you did that when you read the above name, please immediately stop reading and go slam your head in a door. Those who didn’t do that, continue on. 

Now, the age of exploration was a strange one. After the Americas were discovered people were eager to just pillage the crap out of em’ but others were still searching for an easier way to get to the Philippines. The reason it was kinda tough for some countries to get there (Spain) is a confusing treaty called the Treaty of Tordesillas.

This map does a good job of illustrating what it did. In the light green areas, the sea routes were in Portuguese controll, the dark green, by the Spanish. Now, you are probably thinking, Great, Magellan being Portuguese means it’ll be easy for him to get over there. Just go East!  Wrong. Gosh you’re so wrong all the time… Let me continue.

Magellan was a pimp captain for the Portuguese fleet for a while. Commanding fleets for them, participating in various battles AND he had been to the spice Islands for ‘em and come back with a significant limp. HOWEVER, it was pretty easy to piss off the Spanish, and trading with the Moors did a good job of it. He was accused of that, and, while he was never convicted, he never was given another command for Portugal. So thats where the Spanish come in.

Remember when Christopher Columbus found this huge continent called America? (He didn’t. he actually died, after 3-4 trips back and forth thinking he really got to Asia) Well, what he was REALLY trying to do was find the Spice Islands. The Moluccas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moluccas

A small place. Insignificant in the context of the modern world. BUT this small place had a HUGE impact on the structure of our modern world. It’s hard to really put in perspective in ‘current’ context how in demand these spices were. Nutmeg, Cloves, Mace in the 1500’s these were more in demand than gold. Extravagant europeans would pay HUGE amounts for these spices. One expedition could pay a crew enough for everyone on it to retire for life. 

That is. If you made it. 

The Europeans were terrible at keeping people alive on the open ocean. EVEN on the EASTERN routes to Asia south around the Cape of Good Hope, it was a treacherous journey. Pirates, Storms, Disease, Scurvy, Bad Navigation, if you participated in one of these expeditions… chances were very good that you would DIE. 

These days, we are exploring space… kinda. Maybe 30 people go up into space a year? Over the entirety of the American/Russian space programs, starting in the 1950’s, 29 people have died.

During Magellans journey between 1519-1522 of his 235 man crew, Seven times that number would die. It makes me really wonder what it would take to get us to risk our lives to get into space at that expense. Maybe if the asteroid belt had a bunch of nutmeg on it? 

Nevertheless, despite the dangers, hundreds of men went on hundreds of expeditions every year in the age of exploration. Magellan had no troubles finding a huge spanish crew eager to explore new lands who were excited for the possibilities to end up rich beyond belief.

However, you also have to factor in the that these guys thought that Asia was JUST on the other side of mexico. That If you could get around the continent, BAM, you’re home and RICH. Nope. These sailors had a tough time with the Atlantic Ocean, Let alone, the horrific maze of islands at the southern tip of Argentina. LOOK?!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Sur2.gif

Now you might say to me, what’s the big deal? Well, you need to stop being a jerk, cause it is a very big deal. They had to navigate through this clusterfuck of islands, peninsulas and inlets without modern navigational tools… pretty much just a sextant (tee hee) and the stars in the sky. OH WAIT. The Sextant wasn’t invented until the 1700’s. These sailors are fucked. 

Here are a list of the things that happened BEFORE they got through the area now known as the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific;

• A Mutiny involving 2 of the 5 ships captains broke out. Most of the crew remained loyal but 2 people were executed and one of the captains and priest were marooned on the coast of Argentina.

• One of the 5 ships, the Santiago, was wrecked in a storm. The Crew survived, which was kinda bad because now they had 4 ships worth of supplies, for 5 ships worth of crew. Remember, they thought that Asia was JUST off the coast of mexico. This is important.

• Magellan sent 2 ships forward to explore the straits, the Concepcion and San Antonio. The San Antonio deserted, as many of the men in the expedition were Spanish, and did not feel comfortable with a Portuguese commander. This ship had a majority of the provisions for the journey (this is again, very important)

So, now there are three ships left which just entered the Pacific Ocean. In an era where it was difficult to cross the Atlantic these remaining three ships had NO idea what was in store for them. Magellans maps were wrong and again, these guys were fucked.

The crew was hard up for food. They ate worm/rat infested bread. They ate the ox-hides from the ships masts. Then they ate the rats. They were all starving to death and dying of malnutrition and scurvy. However, the commanders did not get scurvy. Because they were eating dates, reserved for them, they avoided the problems associated with a lack of Vitamin C. The commanders had no idea that the fruit was keeping them alive… 

The amount of time it took for Europeans to discover that certain foods containing Vitamin C would save lives at sea is insane. The Chinese were far superior sailors in many ways and knowing that fruit is good for you is the most clear argument for that. Chinese fleets were massive and impressive, but what was most impressive was that they would set sail with huge ships reserved JUST for GROWING FRUIT. The entire deck covered with topsoil that would grow fruit, and during your voyage you would eat it and NOT DIE.  Great job China. Now back to our dying Europeans.

So after 98 days. THREE MONTHS, of starvation, sickness and boredom, the 150 remaining sailors of Magellans fleet finally saw land again. Barren sea for three months and they arrived in Guam. Of course they were approached by the native people, whom they eventually got in a fight with. This was completely normal when you consider that they attempted to change the natives entire belief structure so that they could take advantage of them. 

The fleet was also lost. No European had approached the Spice Islands from the east before and this was problematic. But not as problematic as the religious leanings of Magellan as this would be what would eventually cause his downfall. Instead of going right to the Spice Islands, he got bogged down by what he would call a “Mission from God” and attempted to convert the native population of various native tribes of the Philippines. Much of his crew was against this, because it was indeed the direct cause of his death. Magellan had such extreme faith, that he took risks, the final being a battle with a man named Lapu-Lapu. In knee deep water of the beach, the Europeans with their heavy steel armor were slowed, and cut to pieces by spears and poisoned arrows. After an hour, Magellan was hit with a spear, fell to his knees and was swarmed by native warriors. He was torn to pieces, and the Spanish fled.  Wheres your Messiah now Magellan!

So, Magellan is dead, But we celebrate him as being the man who first circumnavigated the world. Which is wrong.

He was an amazing navigator, arguably the best the world had ever seen and he went on a journey that no other had matched before him… buuuuuut he died, so lets forget about him.

Months later, In November, the remaining crew of 115 sailors and two ships (one was abandoned because there weren’t enough sailors to man it) reached the Spice Islands. They traded for the valuable spices and set forth on their return to Spain. They went the West route because they didn’t want another hundred of them to die on the Pacific. Fair enough. However,  the route west was controlled by the Portuguese, so it wasn’t going to be easy either.

Shortly after they set sail, One of the two ships, the Trinidad, began taking on water and had to be abandoned. It’s crew also had to remain in the Philippines, as the one remaining ship, The Victoria, was not big enough to accommodate them. Weeks later they would repair the Trinidad and set sail again, only to be captured by the Portuguese immediately. Fun!

So one ship of the five remains, The Victoria, commanded by Juan Sebastian Elcano. Provisions were low, and by May, Twenty men had died of starvation. On July 9th, he anchored in Cape Verde, a Portugese holding, where he had to flee quickly, abandoning 13 more crew. Then Finally, on September 6th he returned to Spain with 26 tons of cloves and cinnamon. Yum! 

Of the original 235 men that set sail from Spain, only 18 returned. And while Elcano would not be remembered for being the one who first circumnavigated the globe, he would be rich beyond belief.  This next part is the part that astonishes me the most: Three years after returning from this horrible expedition, Elcano would go back to sea attempting the same journey. What a MORON. He died of course. 

Where did that explorer type go? In the modern era we all collectively mourn the deaths of explorers for weeks. An accident in space travel delays the exploration of space by years. The spice trade in the age of exploration drove millions to gamble with their lives at the possibilities of coming back to their meager life with glory and riches. If we find an element amongst the stars precious enough and valuable enough to society, I think our culture might revert to the mindset people had during the age of exploration.  A no guts no glory approach to the cosmos is the only thing that is going to motivate us to explore it… and people are gonna die. Thats just how it goes, but those who don’t will live for centuries.

It probably wont be spice that drives us. That’s ridiculous. There will probably be giant sandworms though, thats a given.

Surprise!

After their involvement in World War One, the US returned to their isolationist ways and remained neutral well into the first stages of the Second World War. The attack on Pearl Harbor towards the end of 1941 would completely shift their foreign policy and it’s effects would profoundly shape the modern International superpower to this day.

In the evening of the 7th of December 1941 the fires were still burning in and around Pearl Harbor. Sailors frantically attempted to rescue their comrades in the overturned wrecks of battleships and destroyers that littered the oil stained burning docks.

Recent documents uncovered revealed that the Japanese government wished to make a formal declaration of war. However, their wishes were outweighed by the incredibly powerful and influential Army/Navy, who wished to hold strategic advantage and devastate the US Navy with a surprise attack. This of course, was what they achieved. 

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a complete surprise. General Yamamoto, the architect of this brilliant plan, silently led a tremendous naval force through the middle of the pacific and struck Hawaii in the north, completely surprising the US forces there. Yamamotos plan was intended to cripple the US forces so completely that they would be unable to act in the Pacific sea for 6 to 12 months. During that time the Japanese forces could tear through the south pacific and gain a foothold that would make it impossible for the US to mount an offensive there. His plan relied on this scenario. He knew that US industrial production could be a ferocious enemy and that Japan could not fight a protracted war. 

Yamamoto was commanding the fleet alongside Nagumo during the attacks, and Nagumo’s decisions would prove devastating to the Japanese directives in the Second World war. Despite overwhelming surprise and superiority Nagumo called off the third wave of attacks. Because of this, they failed to destroy primary targets including 3 aircraft carriers, 7 heavy cruisers, the submarine base and fuel depots. The Japanese had achieved a strategic victory, but would not acquire the strategic knockout punch Yamamoto’s plan required to ultimately take control of the entire Pacific.

I don’t want to talk about what happened during the course of the attacks. I want to talk about what they did to a country. It is astonishing to me how much it galvanized the USA.  An entire nation rose up from those attacks and has dominated the world ever since. The people of the US did not achieve this under sway of totalitarian threat but through sheer patriotism and duty. The America that reacted to those attacks is something to be in awe of.

When the two powers of US and Japan met later at Midway in early June of 1942 the Americans came through victorious and the gap of the industrial production between them would grow wider and wider. Yamamoto’s fears of a protracted war had come true, and it would mean disaster for the Japanese empire.

The USA, at the start of the war, was still lingering from the effects of the great depression. Their policy of continued Isolationism contained their military to a relatively humble force given the circumstances in Europe. After the Japanese attack, America was primed for industrial expansion. 

During the course of the war the US manufactured 324,000 aircraft. All other combatants combined (axis and allied) accounted for 600,000. And they had a two year head start on the US.

The USA manufactured roughly 34,000,000 tonnes worth of naval units. All other combatants combined (axis and allied) accounted for only 16,000,000.

At the start of the war, the US had 6 aircraft carriers. By the end of the war 99 were in commission. 9 were sunk during the course of the war, meaning that 102 Aircraft Carriers were built in the course of 45 months. Aircraft carriers are fucking huge, you guys. 

Between 1941 and 1942 aircraft/naval production tripled and munition production increased five times.

By 1944 American production ALONE would double the output of both Axis powers.

Henry Fords staggering 67 acre manufacturing facility “Willow Run” had a mile long assembly line for B24 Liberators that at top speed would produce a new bomber every 63 seconds.

Henry J Kaiser, a captain of industry, who never once manufactured any ship in his past eventually controlled 12 shipbuilding facilities across the US. When he first entered ship manufacturing at the start of the war in 1941 it took a year to produce a typical cargo “Liberty Ship”. Very quickly he was manufacturing one of them every 5 days, earning his given nickname “Sir Lauch-A-lot”.

This transformation of the american industrial scene would bring about incredible social change, allowing women and minorities to enter a workforce crippled by unemployment. For the first time ever, married women in the workforce outnumbered single women. Women took a huge role in war industries and completely shook off the traditional roles for them in society and transformed the social and industrial composition of America and the first world. 

This was in contrast of course to the German/Axis powers, who were opposed to women in the workforce and never massed their entire industrial capacity and turned rather to slave labour, which was incredibly unproductive.

The influx of African Americans into the workforce was also significant. Prior to the outbreak of the war, there were 5 million African Americans in the American workforce, very few of which in high paying or industrial positions. After FDR instituted the Fair Employment initiative, African numbers in the wartime industrial workforce grew to 7.5 percent. This was not without its bigoted protesters and race riots would consume industrial centers in the US sporadically through the war. However, it was a step in the right direction that would ensure minorities in the US could gain a foothold on securing equal rights for themselves and future generations.

Pearl Harbor was the match that lit the American powder-keg. It’s military industrial complex continues to be a dominant force in the world and will probably maintain that position for years to come. Their industrial capacity during the course of the war is a stunning example of a country passionately coming together to achieve a common goal.

Really, The world discovered that the biggest surprise of the attacks on Pearl Harbor was what the United States were capable of.

Yanksgiving!

It’s a pretty big deal, I guess… This celebration of the harvest (We in Canada did ours early… cause food rots quicker in the cold). We all know the story, the Pilgrims, starving to death in their new found home of Massachusetts are shown how to cultivate food and fish by the Wampanoag Indians. Yaa! Everyone after that was fine and there were no problems. 

No. Of course, I’m kidding. Thousands died.

This isn’t going to be an entry about that most cliched argument against the harvest festival land stolen. The genocidal expanse through the new world etc.

This is just a blog to remind you that that sort of things happens all the time! 

To Afghanistan & The Caucus’ by the Greeks.

To Europe, by the Romans.

To Australia by the British.

To Africa by… everyone

It’s a sad fact that one of the things that us humans do best is to take over some place by people with lesser developed technology.

However, in Central America, it was a case of bad news vs. bad news.

When Hernan Cortes took down Moctezuma the 2nd in 1519 he was doing it for terrible terrible reasons. Basically, gold. 

NOW, when describing tribes of the Americas, people tend to think small, but at this point I must inform you that the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was actually larger than every European city at the time other than Constantinople. With a population estimated at over 150,000 people. 

And It wasn’t as difficult for Cortes to take the city, as when he arrived Moctezuma welcomed him in. People debate as to his motives behind this. Some speculate that it is because he believed the Spanish to be personifing the return of their god Quetalcoatl, who was prophesied to return at the time the Spanish arrived. If this were the case, it would be one of those unfortunate coincidences that history is ripe with. As soon as he entered the city, Cortes imprisoned Moctezuma and demanded gold for his ransom. 

At this point, it seems like a sob story for the Aztecs. Poor them, right?

No.

See, the same Religious belief that allowed them to be sacked by Europeans, had also been used to excuse the systematic murder of hundreds of thousands in ritualistic human sacrifice. All of Mesoamerica seemed to practice this, many of the tribes who allied with Cortes were probably doing it, but the difference was that the Aztecs were the best at it. Usually these enemy tribes would be the victims of the Aztec rituals, as prisoners of war were the favorites for sacrifice.  There is debate as to how many fell victim to these rituals, but some scholars estimate the number to be about 20,000 people per year.  In one event, the re-consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed 400 prisoners over the course of 4 days. 

All of the Sacrifices had their specific days/festivities, and each event had a specific god who demanded different kinds of victims. Young women, children, healthy young males. 

Each were killed in different ways, drowning, burned alive and of course the more recognizable ‘hollywood method’ of having your heart cut out while you were alive was a favorite, here is Cortes describing it;

They have a most horrid and abominable custom which truly ought to be punished and which until now we have seen in no other part, and this is that, whenever they wish to ask something of the idols, in order that their plea may find more acceptance, they take many girls and boys and even adults, and in the presence of these idols they open their chests while they are still alive and take out their hearts and entrails and burn them before the idols, offering the smoke as sacrifice. Some of us have seen this, and they say it is the most terrible and frightful thing they have ever witnessed.

So then, as he described, the Spanish did something about it.  He replaced the Aztec idols from the main temple pyramid and replaced them with shrines to the Virgin Mary and St. Christopher. What he though would be peaceful idols, I suppose. 

The Aztec nobles did not appreciate the submissive attitude of Moctezuma and eventually drove Cortes and allies out of Tenochtitlan. Cortes then gathered more allies and beseiged the city. The seige lasted 8 months and residents suffered through starvation and smallpox, until finally spanish cannon and steel destroyed the legendary city of gold completely. Between 450-860 Spanish casualties were suffered, and over 200,000 Aztecs would die. 

This is usually what happens when cultures clash. Especially cultures that evolved along different technological lines. Had the Aztec people evolved in a similar way and were granted the beneficial gifts of “Guns, Germs & Steel” as Jared Diamond put it, perhaps they would be the aggressors. 

The destruction of culture is horrible and regrettable, but in this instance it reminds us that humans are flawed no matter what culture they reside in.  Historically, It seems it is in our biological nature to exploit and take advantage and murder those who would be seen as inferior.

This Thanksgiving be thankful for those around you who are not doing this!

11

It’s not about freedom. It’s about sacrifice.

It’s not about why we fought or what we fought for. It’s about those who suffer when the world goes mad. what was gained is meaningless to all those buried in the ground.

Keep remembering, so someday, it might end.