The defeat of the Aztecs by Hernan Cortes and his small band of adventurers is one of the most startling military feats in history. Fifty years after the event Bernal Diaz (c. 1498-1580), who served under Cortes, wrote this account of the march from the coast, Montezuma's death, the massacre of the Spaniards and the eventual capture of the capital of Mexico. Diaz inspired W. H. Prescott's History of the Conquest and has been rendered here by J. M. Cohen, the translator of Don Quixote and other Penguin Classics.
Author Biography
Spanish historian Bernal Diaz del Castillo (c.1492-1584) was a soldier in the army of the conquistador Cortes in the attack on the Aztecs. J M Cohen translated widely from French and Spanish, including for Penguin Classics Montaigne's Essays and Cervantes' Don Quixote.
