Qualla: Battle of Otumba https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:09 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Otumba https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba Battle of Otumba: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba/ They had been retreating for days, bleeding and exhausted, when the Aztec army found them on the plain of Temalcatitlan. It was July 7, 1520, barely a week after La Noche Triste -- the "Night of Sorrows" -- when Hernan Cortes and his forces had fled Tenochtitlan under cover of darkness, losing more than 800 Spanish soldiers and an unknown number of Tlaxcalan allies as Mexica warriors attacked them on the causeways. The survivors who stumbled onto the plain near Otumba were fewer than 500 men at arms, wounded, stripped of most of their gunpowder and gold, harassed by skirmishers for every kilometer of their retreat toward Tlaxcala. The Aztec leadership had resolved to finish them off. What happened next would change the course of the conquest.

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/9/b/battle-of-otumba-wp/9g9b-battle-of-otumba-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Otumba: The Night That Preceded the Battle https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba/ To understand Otumba, you have to understand what came before it. In March 1519, Cortes had landed at Potonchan on the Mexican coast with a commission from Cuba's Governor Diego Velazquez de Cuellar -- a commission Velazquez then revoked. Cortes launched his expedition anyway. Th...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/9/b/battle-of-otumba-wp/9g9b-battle-of-otumba-the-night-that-preceded-the-battle.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Otumba: A Desperate Gamble on the Plain https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba/ The Aztec force waiting on the plain near Otumba vastly outnumbered the retreating Spanish and Tlaxcalan column. According to Bernal Diaz del Castillo, the conquistador whose firsthand account remains the most detailed record of the battle, the Mexica saw the Spanish as already d...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/9/b/battle-of-otumba-wp/9g9b-battle-of-otumba-a-desperate-gamble-on-the-plain.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Otumba: The Charge That Decided Everything https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba/ Cortes had instructed his men to strike at enemy commanders and standards. In the chaos of battle, he spotted the Aztec high priest and military leader Matlatzincatl, identifiable by his elaborate armor, feathered headdress, and the war standard -- the pamitl -- he carried. Corte...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/9/b/battle-of-otumba-wp/9g9b-battle-of-otumba-the-charge-that-decided-everything.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Otumba: The Road to Tenochtitlan's Fall https://qualla.com/battle-of-otumba/ Otumba was not a conquest -- it was a survival. The Spanish reached Tlaxcala, their allied territory, where they could finally rest, tend their wounded, and begin rebuilding the force that La Noche Triste had shattered. Over the following year, Cortes reinforced his army with new...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/g/9/b/battle-of-otumba-wp/9g9b-battle-of-otumba-the-road-to-tenochtitlans-fall.mp3 0:06 5 full