"But for demonstrating how infections can change the outcome of wars, no war matched the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the sixteenth century. With an army of only four hundred men, Hernando Cortez conquered an Aztec civilization of four million. Cortez didn’t defeat the Aztecs because his men were braver (the Aztecs were fierce, noble fighters) or because he was more adept at recruiting other Indian tribes to join him (allies joined Cortez only after they were sure he would win) or because he had more guns and horses (the guns were crude and the horses were of limited value). So what was it? What caused an Aztec civilization of millions to lay down its arms and wholly, unequivocally surrender to a few hundred Spanish invaders? The answer was an infection that had been circulating in Europe for centuries but had never crossed the Atlantic Ocean: smallpox. Within one year of the Spanish invasion, the smallpox plague had killed millions. The Aztecs interpreted the plague as punishment, convinced that their invaders enjoyed divine favor. “The religions, priesthoods, and way of life built around the old Indian gods could not survive such a demonstration of the superior power of the God the Spaniards worshipped,” wrote William McNeill, author of Plagues and Peoples. “Little wonder, then, that the Indians accepted Christianity and submitted to Spanish control so meekly. God had shown Himself on their side, and each new outbreak of infectious disease imported from Europe, and soon from Africa as well, renewed the lesson.”"
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Does he mention how the Ottomans brought the Black Death to Europe a few centuries earlier?
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