A Story about the Spanish Conquistador Cortes

When change is unavoidable…

When the Spanish conquistador, Cortes, landed at Vera Cruz in Mexico in 1518, he expected to find himself faced with a relatively easy task of subjugating the native peoples. Instead, he found that the Tlascalan and Cholulan tribes had received word of his arrival and were ready in large numbers to fight him and his troops.

Despite their overwhelming numbers, Cortes knew that the Indians were no match for the Spanish guns. But Cortes’ troops had different ideas and favored going home.

Faced with this dilemma, and sure that victory would be theirs if only his men would fight, Cortes decided on only one course of action. He burnt the ships.

Moral:

When change is unavoidable, eliminate the escape routes.