American History Hotline

Episode: Did Montezuma Surrender? Debunking the Myth of the Spanish Conquest

Host: Bob Crawford
Guest: Dr. Matthew Restall, Director of Latin American Studies at Penn State
Date: January 14, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode confronts the enduring myth of Montezuma’s “surrender” to Hernando Cortez during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Host Bob Crawford welcomes historian Matthew Restall, whose scholarship challenges traditional narratives and calls for a more nuanced understanding of these pivotal events in American history. Their discussion upends oversimplified stories, asks what we truly know about Montezuma and the conquest, and explores the biases that have colored our perceptions for centuries.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Myth of Montezuma's Surrender

• Traditional Story: The widely accepted version is that Montezuma surrendered to Cortez, a narrative popularized in history books, murals, and public memory.
  • Restall: “In a nutshell, the traditional story is Montezuma surrendered... My book seeks to persuade you that Montezuma did not surrender.” (02:45)
• Debunking the Narrative: Restall explains the surrender story was crafted by Cortez to legitimize Spanish conquests and justify the empire’s brutality.
  • “Why does it matter to him... to believe that Montezuma surrendered? First of all, it helps explain how he was able to conquer the empire... Second, it legitimizes what they did. This is a brutal invasion.” (03:44)

Who Were Montezuma and Cortez?

• Montezuma: Last emperor of the Aztec Empire; his capital, Tenochtitlan, is present-day Mexico City.
  • “Montezuma was the emperor of the Aztec empire, and the capital city of that empire was called Tenochtitlan. It is today Mexico City in exactly the same spot.” (03:44)
• Cortez: The Spanish conquistador recognized for “conquering” Mexico, described by Restall as more a cunning self-promoter than brilliant general.
  • “He’s a monstrous individual. But he’s very good at spinning a tale... Very good at self promotion.” (07:42)

Spanish-Centric Sources and Historical Bias

• Spanish Perspective Dominates: Our understanding derives almost entirely from Spanish writers and Cortez himself, who shaped the story to his advantage.
  • “There’s a cliche... the victors write the history... I always like to kind of twist that a little bit and say it’s the victors, but it’s also the storytellers.” (07:32)
• Cortez’s "Reports": These were self-interested, written to secure royal support and paint him as the empire’s hero.
  • “Anyone who is received investment and has to answer to their investors has to submit reports. So Cortez has been writing reports back to the king saying, invest in me... These are my reports.” (09:25)
  • “He’s got to spin events to make it seem like he’s not a failure.” (09:25)

The Reality of the Encounter: War, Diplomacy, and Misunderstanding

• Warfare Over Surrender: Restall contends the conquest was a protracted, brutal civil war, not an easy victory handed over by Montezuma’s capitulation.
• The “God” Story: The notion Montezuma mistook Cortez for a god is a later myth, not present in contemporaneous accounts.
  • “That’s a legend that I would argue against, and I don’t think that’s true. If people were saying in his lifetime that... Cortez was a God, Cortez would have jumped on that.” (06:39)

The Aztec Empire: More Than “Human Sacrifice”

• Size and Sophistication: A vast, expanding, intensely organized empire that would likely have continued to grow even without Spanish intervention.
  • “The empire... covers most of central and southern Mexico... and probably would have gone for another century or two before it would have kind of fallen in on itself.” (12:08)
• Stereotypes Debunked: The popular focus on ‘human sacrifice’ is exaggerated and detracts from Aztec achievements and complexity.
  • “Our view of the Aztec empire is equivalent to looking at Elizabethan England and forgetting that Shakespeare ever existed and instead saying... Oh, it was burning people alive at the stake. That’s all they did.” (13:24)
  • “I think we should not even be using the phrase human sacrifice anymore. I think these are ritual executions…” (13:24)

Who Was Montezuma as a Person?

• Scarce Primary Evidence: Most records of Montezuma were destroyed; our knowledge is filtered through biased or later sources.
  • “Almost nothing has survived in terms of real evidence from his lifetime. The Aztecs, they had a writing system, they kept books. Montezuma had a huge library. It was all destroyed.” (17:47)
• Restall’s Method: Uses circumstantial sources, indigenous accounts altered post-conquest, and cross-examines all available evidence to reconstruct a more plausible picture.
  • “What we come up with is so many different images, so many competing conflicting images of him... you have to round up an enormous quantity of sources...” (18:56)
• A Curious, Intelligent Ruler: Restall suggests Montezuma was an astute, inquisitive leader, studying the Spaniards rather than submitting to them.
  • “He talks to them. He studies them. Right. So this is a guy who’s incredibly curious… He collects live objects. Live creatures, people and objects from all over his empire of every conceivable kind in order that those objects can then be studied.” (18:56-23:25)

The Six-Month Window: “Golden Opportunity” Lost

• A Period of Dialogue: For six months, Spaniards are guests, not conquerors, and mutual curiosity prevails.
  • “They’re there for six months... there’s a lot of conversing and interaction that is going on. And I think the tragedy of this war is that that six months represents a kind of a rare golden opportunity.” (24:28)
• Alternate Histories: Restall laments the lost chance for diplomacy and reciprocal relations—a turning point for all humanity.
  • “This is one of the great turning points in human history... the two halves of humanity, if you like, separated for tens of thousands of years and now suddenly brought together... If only that had persisted...” (24:28)

Fixing Historical Narratives

• Continuous Re-examination: History isn’t fixed; new interpretations and evidence must be welcomed.
  • “The historical past is not set. It never is set... It’s constantly changing. And as soon as we deny that... that closes off debate, it closes off our minds…” (27:55)
• Morality and Storytelling: Understanding real pasts counters prejudices and enriches humanity.
  • “If we don’t understand the Aztecs better, we can never understand indigenous peoples. And that there’s a line between this demonic opinion of the Aztec empire and negative racist opinions about indigenous peoples today.” (27:55)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Restall on Storytelling and Power:
  “He’s not a brilliant general... He’s a monstrous individual. But he’s very good at spinning a tale. He’s good at self promotion... that story becomes the one that we know.” (07:42)
• Restall on Human Sacrifice:
  “Our view of the Aztec empire is equivalent to looking at Elizabethan England and... saying, what was Elizabethan England all about? Oh, it was burning people alive at the stake. That’s all they did. That’s how we see the Aztecs. And I think it’s unfair.” (13:24)
• Restall on Interpreting the Past:
  “It’s not something that’s... happened, therefore it can’t change. It’s actually the opposite. It’s constantly changing.” (27:55)
• Restall on the Encounter’s Significance:
  “This is one of the great turning points in human history... If only there had been a sense in which this could be the beginning of kind of a diplomatic relationship... the next 500 years would have been very different.” (24:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:45: Origins of the surrender myth and Restall’s challenge to it
• 03:44: Who were Montezuma and Cortez? Reputations and reality
• 06:39: Cortez as a god – debunking the legend
• 07:32: Why our understanding is filtered by Spanish sources
• 09:25: How Cortez shaped the narrative through “official” reports
• 12:08: Scope and nature of the Aztec empire
• 13:24: Exaggerated tales of human sacrifice and their impact
• 17:47: What do we actually know about Montezuma?
• 18:56: Methods for reconstructing Montezuma’s character and choices
• 24:28: The nature of the Spanish-Aztec relationship, possibilities lost
• 27:55: Why and how to reassess history—invitation to debate

Further Reading

• When Montezuma Met Cortez (Restall’s book) — for a comprehensive, myth-busting account of the conquest.

This episode is essential listening for anyone curious about the real dynamics of the Spanish conquest and how the past is constructed, contested, and reimagined by both victors and those they claimed to defeat.