In three years, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, leading a few hundred Spanish soldiers, overcame a centuries-old empire that could put tens of thousan

Parallels the historical backgrounds and human motivations of the Spaniards and Aztecs, as they grapple in the life-and-death battle for the Aztec Empire.

Drawing on newly discovered sources and writing with brilliance, drama, and profound historical insight, Hugh Thomas presents an engrossing narrative of one of

A dramatic rethinking of the encounter between Montezuma and Hernando Cortés that completely overturns what we know about the Spanish conquest of the Americas

Illustrates the role Hernan Cortes played in the expansion of the Spanish Empire and its conquest of the Aztecs during the sixteenth century.