🇲🇽⚔️🇪🇸Hernan Cortez Leads the charge to Victory at the Battle of Otumba in 1520 This battle is an incredible story of victory against all odds-👇🏻 The Spanish & Tlaxcalan forces numbering only around 2500-3000 total, including refugees and women and children, with only around 500 Spanish infantry, 20 armored cavalryman including Cortez, and 12 crossbowman, defeated the massive Aztec army which was claimed to be 100,000 strong. (Though this is probably an exaggeration). I want to also add that the Spanish had NO firearms or cannon whatsoever at this battle, contrary to popular media who puts emphasis on this point as to why such small forces repeatedly defeat the Aztecs. Their armor, steel weapons, horses, and fighting spirit won the day. Cortez and his men were in flight from Tenochtitlan after having barely escaped by fighting their way out; the Aztec forces then pursued he and his men, looking to wipe out their small force and his Tlaxcalan allies. All seemed lost for the Conquistadors, who made their stand on the plains of Temelcatitlan near Otumba. Exhausted and outnumbered, the Spanish and Allies Tlaxcalans made their stand. Defeat here would spell total annihilation of the Spanish in the New World, and would have changed the course of history. But it was not to be. He formed his armored infantry into a circle as they were completely surrounded, with missile troops and Tlaxcalans in the center; a mobile fortress. The Aztec army could not penetrate the fortified shield & spear wall. There were many refugees/non combatants amongst the Coalition forces, and they all fought, including one Maria de Estrada, a Spanish woman who was described as (Quote) “fighting as if she were one of the bravest men in the world.” Cortez knew he must do something drastic, and decided to lead a last ditch cavalry charge directly at the Aztec commander-Cortez knew that he could break the enemy if he were to kill & capture the standard of the Aztec commander, Matlatzincatzin. Cortez led the charge along with his best remaining horsemen and hardened soldiers Gonzalo Dominguez, Cristobal de Olid, Gonzalo de Sandoval, and Juan de Salamanca… The furious charge of the small group of Spaniards caught the Aztec commander off guard, and Juan de Salamanca drove the Aztec commander through with a lance, killing him and capturing the standard. The resulting confusion and demoralization of the Aztec army after the death of their leader caused them to retreat in disorder and scatter. The coalition forces were then able to return to Tlaxcalan territory to rest, heal, & decide their next course of action. Against all odds they had defeated the Aztec forces. This battle was the death blow to the Aztec Empire’s struggle against the Conquistadores. Almost all of the Spaniards were wounded, with Cortez himself falling into a coma-he recovered, and within months the Spansh would build a navy and take Tenochtitlan once and for all. Artwork by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.

🇮🇹🇦🇹⚔️Armor for Man & Horse for a Member of the Völs-Colonna Family of South Tyrol ca. 1575 The total combined weight of both the man's and horse's armor is 114 pounds. The etched decoration of this armor is of a type that became fashionable in northern Italy during the late 1500s. It consists of ornamental bands of etched figures, animals, portrait busts, and armor trophies. In addition, a coat of arms is represented seven times in different places—the center of the breastplate and blackplate, the front and back of each pauldron (shoulder defense), and the center of the peytral (horse's breastplate). The coat of arms is that of the Colonna family quartered with another, still unidentified family. It probably belonged to an unknown member of the Völs-Colonna family from the South Tyrol, now part of northern Italy.