4 sources healthy · latest episode 9 Nov 2026
descriptive claim

The Spanish were divided and fighting among themselves in both the Inca and Aztec campaigns.

Dwarkesh Patel · Si Sheppard – How did a few hundred Spanish soldiers topple two empires? · 1 Oct 2026

In their words

The transcript segments this claim was taken from

“and in the Aztec story,”
“is that in both cases, the Spanish were themselves divided.”
“and in fact fighting each other so um as maybe you should tell the story how Velazquez sends this um another expedition to go capture and arrest Cortez for going beyond the prerogative of his mission yeah”
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