u/OtherEarthsHistory

I've been going back over the numbers of the conquest and the June-July 1520 stretch keeps bothering me. Cortés loses half his army in the canals on the night of June 30th. The only reason he survives is that the Aztec pursuit stops at the city edge. Even then he can't return until smallpox has gutted the city, and 1521 only works because of Tlaxcala.

For people who've read deeper on this period: was there a point where the Spanish side was simply done? If Cuitláhuac orders the pursuit to continue and finishes them on the road to Tlaxcala, is that it? No 1521, no Peru, no Potosí?

Or was it already over the moment smallpox landed, no matter what happened to Cortés?

Sweyn Forkbeard conquered England in late 1013, was crowned king, and died 40 days later. His son Canute came back and won everything by 1016, but he ruled as an English king – the Norse conquest quietly became an English coronation.

But what if Sweyn lives? Say another 20 years. He had already done something unusual for a Viking king: he was learning English, adopting the crown instead of the helmet, planning succession instead of raiding.

My question for the historians here: how would this actually play out? Could a Norse dynasty hold England long-term, or does it collapse the moment the dynasty has a weak heir? And what happens to 1066 – does the Norman Conquest even get attempted against a unified Norse-English state with a standing fleet?

Genuinely curious how people think the dominoes fall.