[4] The battle was fought as a result of the Spanish soldiers growing dissatisfied with the lack of progress done during the siege thus far, as the Spanish-Tlaxcalan forces had failed to take any important amount of territory since the beginning of June.

The Spanish faced a much stronger resistance than expected and were eventually forced to retreat, suffering their worst losses since La Noche Triste and the Battle of Otumba a year earlier.

The battle also became famous because Cortés narrowly escaped death during the fighting, as he was captured by multiple Mexica warriors, who typically didn't spare their prisoners,[8] before he was rescued.

[20] By the early days of June, these positions had been successfully captured after the Spanish won various battles for control of the lake, the western parts of the valley and Iztapalapa.

[21] Sandoval was eventually relocated to Coyoacán, where he fought and defeated the local defenders, as Cortés joined forces with Olid, prepared his camp and set up a large iron cannon, one of the three the Spanish had available, for an assault.

Everyday during this period various skirmishes were fought, both during the day and the night, as the Mexica raided the Spanish camps and the brigantines caused chaos and destruction across the city.

[22] Sandoval meanwhile, under the advice of Alvarado, decided to capture the northern causeway at Tepeyac and settled himself there, cutting off the last opening the city had, completing the blockade.

[24] Using the heavy cannon and two brigantines, they managed to penetrate their way into the central plaza of the city, where they famously stormed the Templo Mayor, killing the priests on top.

However, the Spanish were suddenly met with multiple war canoes from between the buildings and were forced to flee in a rush, abandoning the cannon, which the Mexica later pushed into the lake, as they retreated back to Acachinanco.

[31][11] One day however, in the middle of June, Alvarado, without consulting Cortés or receiving any aid from the other Spanish groups or indigenous allies, decided to perform a major assault to the market of Tlatelolco, an objective which was perceived as vital to achieve victory.

[34] Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a Spanish soldier who wrote a detailed chronicle on the war, suggested that five Spaniards were captured and two others were killed in the brigantines.

[47] Upon noting the lack of progress done thus far and the recent counter-offensives launched by the Mexica, the Spanish became impatient and many believed that a large assault into the city was needed to achieve victory.

[8] Cortés received conflicting advice on what actions to take however, as some believed that such a large push would leave the current captured territories unprotected and thus vulnerable to a counter-offensive.

[65][66][67] As the Spanish-Tlaxcalan forces were beginning to approach the market, it appears Cortés became overconfident of his progress or grew suspicious of his oddly quick advance, and thus began to halt the push.

Hundreds of warriors and many war canoes through the canals entered the site to attack their enemies, the ground filled with mud from the water pouring into it through the gaps in the causeway that were yet unfilled.

They initially tried to hold their ground, while the Mexica used intimidation tactics to demoralize them, such as throwing the severed heads of sacrificed Spaniards into the battlefield and claiming them to belong to Cortés and Sandoval.

There's a probability that Ecatzin was present in this fight too, as suggested by an illustration from Codex Azcatitlan where a warrior dressed in a tunic with symbols reminiscent of the red and blue waters from a spring described in the legend of the foundation of Tenochtitlan, probably a depiction of him, is fighting a Spanish soldier identified as Pedro de Alvarado, though the illustration may be symbolic rather than a literal depiction of the events.

Their bodies were then beheaded and thrown off the stairs of the temples, where they were butchered by priests at the bottom, all the while a large drum was played, displaying a "most saddening noise," along with the sound of horns and whistles.

Díaz del Castillo describes how the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans could do nothing as they watched with horror from a distance their captured comrades be taken to the summit of the temples for this ceremony.

"[93] The heavy losses and the nature of these executions caused a significant psychological impact on both sides, as the Spanish and their allies were severely demoralized and the Mexica morale was boosted as the true mortality of the Spaniards was proven.

Cuauhtémoc himself perceived the victory as decisive, believing that half of the remaining Spanish force had been annihilated, and attempted to convince the rebelled cities to join him against them, sending them various body parts of killed Spaniards as proof of his success.

[95] The Mexica celebrated for the following days, and it seems many even believed the war was over, as Cortés described how they started to open up the roads and bridges again as if the city could go back to normal.

[98] However, eventually the Spanish, who despite everything still dominated the lake, managed to find out how to destroy the stakes placed in the water, allowing them to sail more freely and thus getting a considerable advantage.

The Mexica's allies at Malinalco tried to invade Cuauhnahuac (today known as Cuernavaca, in modern-day Morelos) and the Matlatzinca people at the west tried to march directly onto the Spanish camps.

[99] To Cortés' luck, just as their gunpowder was beginning to run out, in the middle of July a Spanish ship which, according to the American historian William H. Prescott, formed part of the expedition of the explorer Juan Ponce de León, who had ended his expedition in the Florida peninsula at this time,[100] landed at Veracruz, the Spanish camp in the east coast of Mexico created in July 1519.

It carried vital gunpowder, crossbows and soldiers who were quickly received by the Spanish camps in the valley, which allowed Cortés to engage in larger offensives than before.

Cuauhtémoc at first considered it, but was advised otherwise, as the last time there was peace between Mexico and the Spanish the empire was humiliated by Moctezuma's imprisonment, the arrest of Cacamatzin, the profanation of the temples and the Alvarado Massacre.

Facing extreme starvation, widespread disease, having virtually no allies nearby and most of their territory being occupied by the Spaniards and Tlaxcalans, some of whom proceeded to loot, slaughter and rape thousands of civilians,[note 3] a last stand was launched by Cuauhtémoc on 13 August 1521, after which he and many Mexica citizens attempted to flee through the lake, but were intercepted.

[105] In 2017, the remains of a precinct of the nobles who inhabited Colhuacatonco were found by archaeologists of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in República del Perú street, in Cuauhtémoc borough, Mexico City.

The backstory of the neighborhood was revived and gained fame as a story of a major victory being achieved by an indigenous population under extreme circumstances against their colonizers.