The Spanish conquest of South America was achieved thousands of miles from home, with relatively primitive technology, few resources, and privately recruited bands of only a few hundred men

Question

What are the different theories as to why the Spanish were successful?

Answer 1

A. Theories of Spanish success
1. clergy favored the view that the conquest was miraculous and providential
a. warriors who took part in successful expeditions, their heirs,
and cronies explained it as the result of their own godlike prowess
b. account was incredible and self-interested—designed to
maximize rewards from a grateful crown
2. had important Native American allies
3. Native Americans in the vanguard of every attack and Spaniards,
typically, bringing up the rear
4. Native American empires were victims of their own shaky morale
a. spread of false rumors
b. rumors were made up after the event and the reported omens
were borrowed from European books
5. technology gap is often assumed to have been instrumental in the
conquests
a. importance of guns and horses, however, was probably slight
b. horses were of limited value in critical episodes of the
conquests, in mountain warfare and street fighting
6. European successes were by-products of war among Native Americans
7. Spanish triumph was less a battlefield victory than a diplomatic maneuver
8. role of disease
a. Maladies hard to identify, made worse by malnutrition, weakened andkilled many of the defenders of the Aztec capital
b. Spanish carriers unwittingly spread it wherever they went
c. harmed the Spaniards' allies as least as much as their enemies, while
still leaving formidable numbers of foes in the field