On the 22nd of May 1520, Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado orchestrated a massacre at an Aztec festival.
This event marked the beginning of the brutal war between the Spanish and Aztecs.
This is the Massacre at the Great Temple 🧵(Thread)
The Conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés had entered Tenochtitlan the previous November, initially as guests, before they audaciously took emperor Moctezuma hostage.
Tensions were already high when Cortés was forced to march out to meet a Spanish force calling for his arrest led by Pánfilo de Narváez.
In his absence, Cortés left Captain Pedro De Alvarado in charge.
This time of the year was marked by the festival of Toxcatl dedicated to Tezcatlipoca.
Alvarado initially gave permission for the festival to go ahead, under the conditions there would be no sacrifices or weapons present.
The Aztec priests reluctantly obliged.
In the days leading up to the festival tensions reached a fever pitch.
The Tlaxcalans were convinced that the Aztecs were preparing an attack.
Alvarado then noticed that spikes were being erected throughout the city with one apparently being prepared especially for him atop the Great Temple.
Alvarado was nervous, and well he had good reason to be, he could only call upon a few dozen men in a hostile city of 10s of thousands.
As the festival began thousands of people flooded the streets making their way to the temple grounds singing and dancing.
With every bang of a drum Alvarado's anxiety increased.
Now utterly convinced an attack was imminent, he ordered a pre-emptive strike.
His men surrounded the Temple grounds blockading the exits and then armed with their Toledo steel swords and lances they closed in upon the unarmed festival goers and began to cut them down indiscriminately.
An Aztec witness describes the event in gory detail:
"At that moment, they then attacked all the people, stabbing them, spearing them, wounding them with their swords.
They struck some from behind, who fell instantly to the ground with their entrails hanging out [of their bodies]. They cut off the heads of some and smashed the heads of others into little pieces.
They struck others in the shoulders and tore their arms from their bodies. They struck some in the thighs and some in the calves.
They slashed others in the abdomen and their entrails fell to the earth. There were some who even ran in vain, but their bowels spilled as they ran; they seemed to get their feet entangled with their own entrails. Eager to flee, they found nowhere to go.
Some tried to escape, but the Spaniards murdered them at the gates while they laughed. Others climbed the walls, but they could not save themselves. Others entered the communal house, where they were safe for a while. Others lay down among the victims and pretended to be dead. But if they stood up again they would see them and kill them."
The screams and calls for help soon began to echo through the streets of Tenochtitlan.
"Mexicas, come here quickly! Come here with all arms, spears, and shields! Our captains have been murdered! Our warriors have been slain! Oh Mexica captains, our warriors have been annihilated!"
The Jaguar and Eagle warriors were upon them in a flash, Alvarado's men were forced back to the Palace with javelins and arrows biting at their ankles as they retreated.
They were now besieged, trapped, there was no way out.
War was upon them.
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