The Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
The Battle of Otumba is a battle that took place on the 7th of July, 1520. It features in Medieval II: Total War as a historical battle. You take the role of the Spanish army under Hernán Cortés as you try to defeat a vastly larger Aztec force.
Units[]
Hernan Cortes (Spanish)[]
The player controls two Spanish armies. The first, under Cortés, is composed of light infantry, musketeers, crossbowmen, cavalry and native mercenaries. The second Spanish army arrives later in the battle, and contains one unit of heavy infantry and two of native mercenaries.
Cihaucu (Aztecs)[]
The Aztec armies are composed only of infantry (horses were unknown to them before the arrival of Europeans) of all types, ranging from light infantry to heavy infantry to archers to skirmishers. It is vastly superior numerically to the Spanish force.
In History[]
Comissioned by the Governor of Cuba to lead an expedition, Hernán Cortés set sail for Mexico on January 18th 1519.
After initial contact with Cortés, many Aztecs, including the Aztec leader, Moctezuma II, believed that Cortés was an emissary of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god-king, or Quetzalcoatl himself.
Cortés also made contact with the Tlaxcalans, who saw Cortés as a liberator who could free them from the Aztecs. Despite the Spanish having spilled much Aztec blood, Cortés and his men were greeted and housed by Moctezuma II with great pomp and ceremony at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
Later, the Aztecs, resenting the Spaniards' control over Moctezuma and the city, revolted against the Spanish and their allies, who fought to escape the Aztec capital. This bloody night was to become known as La Nocha Triste - the sad night.
Two weeks after La Nocha Triste, after being shadowed and harrased all the way by vengeful Aztecs, Cortés and his men crossed a small mountain range, only to find a vast Aztec horde waiting for them in the Otumba valley bellow. The Aztec force consisted of various Chieftains and their hosts, led by a formidable-looking warrior named Cihaucu.
Cortés encourages his men
After solemn prayers, Cortés instructed his men to target the Aztec Chieftains, knowing that without leaders the Aztecs were likely to lose heart, or at least become confused and disordered.
The outnumbered alliance, encouraged by Cortés and the superior technology of the Spaniards, made its way onto the plains of Otumba, ready to fight for their very lives.