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The Noche Triste: Cortés's Night of Sorrows
Season 1
Episode 38
Published 1 month, 1 week ago
Description
On the night of June 30, 1520, Hernán Cortés and his army fled Tenochtitlan under a hail of Aztec arrows. Hundreds of Spaniards and thousands of Tlaxcalan allies drowned in the canals or were captured and sacrificed. This episode walks through the events of the Noche Triste — the strategic errors, the desperate retreat, the famous cry over the bridge, and how Cortés turned disaster into propaganda. We talk about the legend of the 'Tree of the Noche Triste' and why Cortés wept. The battle set the stage for the siege of Tenochtitlan and changed the course of the conquest.