History offers no more astonishing instance of the part that chance plays in our lives than the catastrophic slow-motion clash between Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes and the Aztec leader Montezuma. The landing of Cortes and his men on the shore of Mexico in 1519 came as a shock to the Aztecs. Everything that followed from that moment to the destruction of an entire civilization was a succession of stunning surprises:

• The surprise that Cortes would step into a land where so many wanted to revolt against the indigenous central government.

• The surprise that the Spaniards could overcome the enormous military odds against them.

• The surprise that Cortes could take Montezuma captive in his own capital.

• The surprise that the Spaniards could level the entire city of Tenochtitlan.

• The surprise that illness could annihilate tens of millions of people.

• The surprise that the backbone of an entire civilization could be broken in a matter of only a few decades.

The End of the Aztecs is a humbling story for anyone who neglects to take into account the inevitability of the unpredictable in human affairs.