Fall of Tenochtitlan

01Smallpox, introduced by a single enslaved man in Cortés's force, killed Aztec emperor Cuitláhuac and an estimated 40% of Tenochtitlan's population before the siege ended.
02Cortés blocked all three causeways out of the island city, destroyed the freshwater aqueduct from Chapultepec, and deployed brigantines on the lake.
03When the last emperor Cuauhtémoc was captured on August 13, 1521, Spanish soldiers reportedly waded through streets ankle-deep in corpses for three miles.

Facsimile of the Einstein–Szilard letter

A carpet beater

Cortés besieged Tenochtitlan for 75 days in 1521 while smallpox moved faster than his soldiers; he blocked causeways, cut off food, and burned the aqueducts. The city of 200,000 surrendered through its corpses.