In the spring of 1519, the Spanish adventurer Hernan Cortes landed on the deserted Mexican coast. A few months later, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was surrendered to the Spaniards without a fight, and the omnipotent Aztec ruler Motekuhsom turned into a submissive puppet of Cortes. In the book offered to the attention of readers, an attempt is made on the basis of an analysis of all available sources, both Indian and Spanish, to find out the reasons for the rapid death of the most developed Indian civilizations of the New World under the blows of the conquistadors. V.I. Gulyaev, candidate of historical sciences, deals with the problems of ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America. He is the author of the monograph "The Oldest Civilizations of Mesoamerica" (M., 1972), popular science books "America and the Old World in the Pre-Columbian Era" (M., 1968), "Idols Hide in the Jungle" (M., 1972) and a number of scientific articles.