This is a map of Tenochtitlan drawn by the Anonymous Conquistador.
(Map of Tenochtitlan, Courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History)
Cortes and his men fled back to their allies in Tlaxcala. On the way, however, they were intercepted by the Mexicans at Otumba. The Spaniards, at the point of the battle, were wounded, hungry, and competely exhausted. Cortes saw that his men were in a bad situation, being horribly outnumbered, so he charged straight into the battle and killed the Mexican General. When the Mexicans saw what had happened they all fled. The Spaniards again had survived against all odds and kept going (Gomara, 1964). According to Gomara (1964), there were no less than 200,000 Indians at the battle of Otumba. After this great victory the Spanish finally made it to the safety of Tlaxcala. Here they were healed and got reinforcements. After a few months the Spaniards moved on and took over Texcoco, making them allies. Soon after this Cortes made plans to attack Mexico. He had his men build ships so that they could sail out onto the lake and bombard the city with canons while never actually entering the city and risking getting trapped. Cortes, with an army of 200,000 Spaniards and Indians, attacked Mexico and after a ninety day siege, it finally fell (Daniel, 1992). On the first of July, 1520, Cortes had been run out of the city, barely escaping alive. But now, on the thirteenth of August, 1521, Mexico, and the Aztec Empire, had fallen (Gomara, 1964). It took just over two years for the Spaniards to conquer Mexico.
The Spaniards had a lot of help from in the taking of Mexico. Along with Texcoco, Xochimilco and Cuitlahuac both joined Cortes. Smallpox also got into the city and wiped out nearly half of the population (Diaz, 1953). The final blow, however, came when Cuauhtemoc, the new King of Mexico, was captured trying to escape the city by boat. Before his capture, Cortes had decided to destroy the city, piece by piece (Gomara, 1964). The Spaniards finally rushed the city and took the stronghold. Cuauhtemoc was brought before Cortes and asked to be killed, for he had failed (de Fuentes, 1963). Cortes did not kill him and asked him to call his men off. At this, all of Mexico surrendered and was won by the Spaniards. After Cortes finished with Mexico, he began systematically taking over the rest of the basin and Mesoamerica. He also rebuilt the city of Mexico and made it a grand city. He also converted the Indians to Christianity. In fact, he forced the Indians to convert to Christianity, but according to Aguilar, "most of them came to church by force, and with very little fear and reverence; they gossip and talk, and walk out during the principal part of the mass and the sermon. In their time, therefore, great strictness was observed in the ceremonies to their gods, but now they feel neither fear nor shame (de Fuentes, 1963)."