Lesson video

Hello there, and welcome back for our last lesson in our four part enquiry to the question: How far did fear allow the Aztecs to control their empire? This is our final lesson in the enquiry and in this lesson today we'll be looking at the Spanish arrival.

For this lesson today, you'll need a pen and a piece of paper.

If you don't have any, press pause now, go and grab some and make your way back.

Great, let's make a start.

In this lesson, we're going to start with looking at this image.

Have a good look and see if you can think of two questions you'd like to ask about this particular image.

Press pause now and have a think and press play once you're ready and you have your questions.

Superb.

Let's see if you thought to some of the same questions as I did.

I thought of these two questions.

What is happening? And why is this happening? Let's explore the first question.

What is happening? This is an Aztec human sacrifice being made to the Sun God.

Can you remember why they did this for the Sun God? Let's find out.

So, why is this happening? The Aztecs believed that in order to keep the Sun moving through the sky they need to make human sacrifices, like the sun once had, in order to continue the creation of the world.

Let's just pause here.

As we do, I'd like you to think about whether this person being sacrificed, looks like they want to be sacrificed.

Pause out and press play once you're ready.

Now, you may have thought the following.

No, they're actually being held down and they don't particularly look like they're enjoying this process at all.

They actually look like they might be screaming a little bit.

Or you may have been slightly unsure because maybe they're just simply screaming out of pain, rather than not the fact that they don't want to be sacrificed.

You may have come up with some other ideas and that's absolutely fine.

Now we understand the picture a little bit better.

Do you think you can give it a go to record your inferences in the following structure? Press pause, write your answer, and then press play when you're ready.

Right, here's my suggestion.

The person being sacrificed looks like they do not want to be sacrificed and look scared.

We can assume this from the fact that their arms are being held down and they look like they're screaming.

You may also have written something slightly different based on your own observations and what those observations suggest.

And that's absolutely fine and that's okay.

Now that you've looked at the Aztec rituals of sacrifices, it's time for you to learn a little bit more about them independently on your own, using your investigative skills as a historian.

I'd like you to ask the comprehension questions using the handout information.

The following comprehension questions can be seen on this slide here, questions one to four and then the challenge question at the end.

You can pause the video, read through the information page and answer the comprehension questions now.

Resume once you're finished.

Brilliant, let's go through our questions and answers together.

Question number one.

How did the formation of the Triple Alliance help the Aztecs? Now an acceptable answer to this question would have been, the formation of the Triple Alliance helped the Aztecs as it gave them more power.

You may have wanted to extend your answer a little further and you may have put something like, the formation the Triple Alliance helped the Aztecs as it gave them more power.

It meant that they were able to now conquer more cities and expand their empire and control over them.

It also now meant that the Aztecs were no longer ruled by Azcapotzalco and it meant they would now be the strongest in this region.

Question number two.

How did the expansion of Tenochtitlan help strengthen its control of the Aztec people? An acceptable answer would have been, the expansion of Tenochtitlan meant that the Aztecs could now assert control over its people through tribute.

To extend your answer, you may have put, the expansion of Tenochtitlan was a symbol of sign of Aztec might and power.

As the city grew in size, so too did its importance and its dominance of the region as more city states came under Aztec power.

These then were face to pay tribute and provide people for religious sacrifice.

This meant that all city states were constantly under the control of Tenochtitlan.

Question number three.

Why were some people in the Aztec empire happy when the Spanish arrived? An acceptable answer would've been, some people were happy with the Spanish arrival as it meant that they would now be free from Aztec rule.

For a good answer, you may have put the following.

Some people were happy with the Spanish arrival as some believed they were the Gods they had been waiting for as the end of time was near.

They also felt that this would mean the end of Aztec oppressive rule, money sent to Tenochtitlan and people sent for religious sacrifices.

It's also worth mentioning at this point, that Montezuma actually gave the Spaniards on arrival jewels and things because they believed they had signs that the Gods were coming and they believed that the Spanish were the Gods.

Question number four.

Did people have reason to feel happy with Aztec rule? Acceptable answer would have been, people had reason to feel happy with the Aztecs as they enjoyed the sport, being educated and development within the towns.

To extend your answer further, you may have put, many people were happy under Aztec rule as they were able to develop many areas of life including farming, fishing and hunting.

They also enjoyed fun sports and games which brought communities together.

Furthermore, they were able to express themselves through arts and culture which was vibrant.

Lastly, they all received a good level of education which suggests that there were good things about the Empire and the impact it had on its people.

The challenge: Why is Montezuma's death suspicious? You may have put, the death of Montezuma was suspicious as the Aztec and Spanish views of his death are different.

Each blame the other for his death.

A good answer would have expanded on that a little bit further.

The death of Montezuma is suspicious as there are different interpretations of his death.

The Spaniards argue that the Aztec people threw rocks at him and thus killing him.

Whilst the Aztecs argue they found his body in the streets with cuts made with a sword after the Spanish left.

Latest research shows, he most likely died from a wound to the head and it seems plausible that the Aztec people may have killed him.

As some viewed him as a traitor for appearing to appease the Spanish but equally they hated his control.

Superb.

Now you know so much about the Aztecs.

See if you can identify which of the following statements would help you when looking at how the Aztecs controlled their empire.

There are seven statements split onto two slides, this one and the next.

You can press pause now, have a read through them and decide which are helpful and which are not.

Great, let's look at the answers together.

The statements not relevant about as to control on this slide with statement number two.

Enslaved people were generally treated well and could buy their way out of slavery.

Now, although this was true, when looking at how the Aztecs controlled their empire, this probably isn't going to help you the most.

Now, the answer which is irrelevant on this slide was statement number six.

The Aztecs introduced the world to two of our favourite foods: popcorn and chocolate.

And although this is true and we did enjoy these delicious squirmy treats, it's probably not going to help us when we're looking at how the Aztecs controlled their Empire.

Now for the last challenge of our lesson.

I would like you to make a judgement on the following question.

Were the Aztec people control through fear? You can pause here to have a think and press play when you're ready to tackle this question.

I will help you structure your answer on the next slide.

So this is just simply a pause point to think about your ideas for both sides of the argument.

Press pause and you can press play again once you're ready.

To answer this question, I have suggested the following structure.

You can see this structure below with some sentence starters on helping you for each of your paragraphs.

You should have three paragraphs all together.

The first paragraph starting with the sentence, the Aztecs were controlled through fear in their Empire.

For example.

Your second paragraph starting with the sentence, however, there was some elements of life which they enjoyed.

For example.

And then your conclusion, your last paragraph starting with the sentence, overall, it can be argued that the Aztecs were able to control the people of their empire because.

You can press pause now, write your answer, and then press play when you're ready.

Well done and thank you for giving this challenge ago.

Below is an example of what you may have put in your first paragraph.

The Aztecs were controlled through fear in their empire.

For example, they faced the constant worry of punishment if they did not pay tribute to Tenochtitlan.

Furthermore, they lived in the constant fear that the world would end if they did not make human sacrifice.

This would have meant that they would have been inclined to do as the Emperor said and therefore he did exert some control over them through playing on these fears.

In your second paragraph, you may have put something like, however, there were some elements of life which they enjoyed.

For example, they were all entitled to being educated.

They also enjoyed a rich culture of singing and dancing as well as prosperous and advanced living conditions which would have made them happy rather than fearful.

And for your final paragraph, your conclusion, you may have said, overall, it can be argued that the Aztecs were able to control the people of their empire because they were able to give them enough things to keep them happy, which would give them no reason to rebel.

However, they were also able to instil enough fear and worries that should they wish to rebel, they would face severe consequences as well as the worries that they would be upsetting the Gods.

Now you may not have had the exact same answers and they may not be identical.

But the important thing is that you tried using this structure and you gave it a go.

Moving on to the next part of our lesson.

I would like you to consider this picture and ask yourself the following things.

Who's in this picture? What's going on? Where are they? And why is this happening? You may want to press pause here to stop and think about these questions.

Press pause, have a look at the picture, write some ideas down and press play when you're ready.

Here in this image we can see where the arrows pointing.

This is pointing to Montezuma, the Aztec Emperor.

And we can see him here with the Spanish, the Spanish have made it in 1519.

Now the Spanish version of the incident claims that they intervened to prevent a ritual of human sacrifice.

The Aztec Version says that the Spaniards were enticed into action by the gold the Aztecs were wearing.

So there again conflicting ideas from the Spanish view and the Aztec view.

So where is this and when is this? Now this is the Massacre in the Great Temple, also called the Alvarado Massacre, which was an event on May 22nd, 1520, in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.

So what's happening? The Emperor is being captured as hostage as tensions between the Aztecs and the Spanish are rising.

Now that we understand this picture, it's important that we consider whether the Spanish arrival and their conquering of Mexico was able to happen due to the discontent that people felt towards the Empire, the Emperor and Aztec rule.

The way that they felt may have actually aided the Spaniards and allowed some of them within the Empire to support the Spanish in their revival and their conquest of Mexico.

This is just some food for thought and something for you to think about a little bit further.

It will also help you when thinking about our question on how far fear actually allowed the Aztecs to control their empire.

And if people were living in fear, was that the reason why they were so willing to help the Spanish to free themselves and get themselves out of this Aztec control.

To finish today, pause here and fill out the gap fill to test how much you've learned over the last lesson.

You will need to fill out the gaps over this slide and the next.

Press pause and then press play when you're ready.

Let's see how you did.

Montezuma the second was the last of the Aztec, emperors, was your first word, who was defeated by the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez in 1520.

When Montezuma the second was born, circa 1466, the Aztec empire spread to present day Honduras and Nicaragua.

The Aztec people, however, resented the Emperor's frequent demands for tribute and victims for religious sacrifice.

So when Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez arrived in 1519, Montezuma saw some of his subjects turn against him.

He was killed soon after, and the Aztec empire came to an end.

Thank you so much for joining us in this four part inquiry on the Aztecs and how far they allowed fear to control their empire.

If you'd like to, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

Thank you and I hope you've learned a lot more about the Aztecs.