Aztec armor could STOP GUNS #shorts

[jswilson]

The other reason the conquistadors won was because the Aztecs pissed off all the people around them, who were more than willing to help them destroy the Aztecs.

[ravenguard]

The other reason that the Aztecs lost was because the other natives hated them more than the Spanish due to the flower wars even when the Spanish lost the battle(La Noche Triste).

[camelloy]

Also important to note that the Aztec empire was a house of cards that all their subjugated kingdoms rose up against the exact moment the Spanish demonstrated weakness on their part

[sawsaurus]

Horses were also a huge turning point for the Spanish against the Aztecs. Horses, these huge brutes that could go way faster than any human, were like nothing they’d ever seen before. You have to remember that they had none of the farm animals you might think of in the New World, the closest thing being llamas.

[ChrissieBear]

IIRC it was soaked in salt water for a long time before being dried, which made it very stiff and rigid, and made the cotton fibers harder to tear apart.

[luisvalenzuela]

Imagine a Spaniard firing the most advanced weapon they owned and the person they fired at shrugged off the shot.

[silverjohn]

The version I heard of why the conquistador's switched to cloth armor was that the flint tipped arrows fired by the locals would shatter on the metal armor sending shard's into their faces or exposed arms while the cloth armor would would catch the arrows without the hazard.

[airplanes_aren.t_real]

I wonder what would have happened if the Aztecs managed to survive the diseases

[Frater_Maven]

From what I remember, "Guns, Germs and Steel"'s author DID in fact specifically state the exact same statistic you did, and multiple times at that. It's been a little over a half decades since I read it, but one of the main things that stuck with me from it was the fact that germs killed MANY more Native North/Meso/South Americans than guns and steel combined and multiplied several times over. If I'm not mistaken the author gives the same figure; 95% as the estimated percentage of indigenous populations killed by germs, directly or indirectly. They even mention that the most powerful tribe in North America, those supposedly responsible for all the mound building and copper mining in both the Ohio River valley and Mississippi River valley, was COMPLETELY wiped out by the spread of the first wave of small pox. They never even got a chance to fight the European invaders, germs did em in before they could even make the choice between welcoming the Spanish and engaging in trade, or pushing them back into the sea on principle of being an unknown outside and thus invading presence in their land.

[thelurkerbelw]

All the tribes united together to take down the Aztec because they were horrible oppressors.

[gallaros]

The padded vs plate is such an interesting case of optimisation.
Yes, there was nothing in the Aztecs arsenal that could penetrate plate, but imagine how uncomfortable it must've been to wear that in the muggy jungle environment. Like getting slow cooked alive

[cameronbethea]

Padded armor was far more effective than most think, but I'm incredibly skeptical of the idea that any historical padded armor could stop even rudimentary firearms. If that were possible, then why did the steel plate need to be as much as 4mm thick just to be moderately bullet resistant?

[ravenfal]

Correction: It was not effective at stopping bullets; it was effective at stopping shot. There is a very important distinction.

[featurelength]

And yet, Dungeons and Dragons along with most video games continue to depict padded armor as worse than a leather jacket. Dang it, Gygax!

[angelvalerio]

Fun fact the Aztec armor was also stuffed with rock salt

[josecarlosmunoz]

what also affect the fall of the Aztec was that the other tribes and groups in mesoamerica were playing their own version of Game of thrones. They were human. Backstabbing finding ways to be the new head huncho. The spaniards came and other groups realized that they could take advantage of this. With the the universal theory of "Fuck that guy over there"

[henryc]

Lastly and most importantly, the majority of Cortez' men were swordsmen, essentially very-late-medieval man-at-arms stuff. Which arguably is way better than an arquebus. Obsidian weapons would shatter against their armor, and the speed and deadliness of a steel arming sword is beyond anything the natives had

[wolfJack-qpsi]

I believe it been now realized the conquest was actually more a multi state rebellion against the Aztec. With the Spanish just kicking it off. I mean how much support could the Spanish even proved being just 600 to 200'000 natives marching on the capital.

[Dathstroke]

Ah yes the bullet stopping cloth armor

[garrettharriman]

I hardly ever am the "source plz!" guy, but I find the claim that Aztec armor was effective against even early gunpowder weapons hard to believe. I can see the Conquistadors wearing it because the threat environment was well suited to Aztec armor (Aztecs didn't have matchlocks).