<Ul> <Li> Late January -- Cuauhtemoc elected huey tlatoani of Tenochtitlan </Li> <Li> February -- combined Spanish - Tlaxalan - Texcocan forces attack Xaltocan and Tlacopan ; Texcoco become the base of operations for the campaign against Tenochtitlan </Li> <Li> Early April -- attacks against Yautepec and Cuernavaca , following by sacking </Li> <Li> Mid-April -- Combined forces defeated by the Xochimilcans , Tenochtitlan 's ally </Li> <Li> Late April -- Construction of 13 shallow - bottomed brigrantines by Tlaxalan laborers under Spanish supervision ; mounted with cannon ; launched into Lake Texcoco , allowing Spanish control of the inland sea </Li> <Li> May 10 -- Start of the siege of Tenochtitlan ; potable water from Chapultepec cut off </Li> <Li> June 30 -- Defeat of Spanish - Tlaxcalan forces on a causeway ; capture and ritual sacrifice of the Spaniards and their horses in Tenochtitlan </Li> <Li> July -- Spanish ships land at Veracruz with large numbers of Spaniards , munitions , and horses </Li> <Li> July 20 -- 25 -- Battle for Tenochtitlan </Li> <Li> August 1 -- Spanish - Tlaxcalan - Texcocan forces enter the Plaza Mayor ; last stand of the Aztec defenders </Li> <Li> August 13 -- Surrender of Aztec defenders ; capture of Cuauhtemoc </Li> <Li> August 13 -- 17 -- Wholesale sacking and violence against the survivors in Tenochtitlan </Li> </Ul>
who was the final ruler of the aztec before the empire fell to the spanish
Cuauhtemoc