Focused on winning his civil war, Atahualpa fatally misjudged the Spanish. He saw the small group as a potential asset—a source of mercenaries, horses, and superior swords to be captured and repurposed. He never considered them an existential threat to his empire, which sealed his fate.

The Spanish didn't defeat the Inca Empire at its height. They arrived after a smallpox epidemic killed the emperor and a subsequent brutal civil war between his sons shattered the empire. This left the civilization politically fractured and militarily exhausted, making it ripe for conquest by a small force.

The group that conquered the Inca Empire was not a trained army but comprised young artisans, merchants, and even a barber seeking fortune. Their prior combat experience was limited to attacking defenseless indigenous groups, not formal warfare, challenging the myth of a professional military force.

Communication during the pivotal meetings relied entirely on young, frightened interpreters who stumbled over their words. This created a dangerous filter of misunderstanding and potential misinformation, adding a layer of chaos and distrust to an already tense first-contact scenario.

The Spanish used a legal document called the "Requerimiento" to legitimize conquest. Before attacking, they read a history of the world and demanded submission to the Pope and Spanish King. Refusal provided a legal pretext for slaughter, a practice some Spaniards at the time considered absurd.

The famous moment where Atahualpa supposedly threw down a prayer book, sparking the massacre, was a manufactured pretext. The Spanish, already in ambush positions, simply needed a justification. The book ending up in the dust—whether thrown or dropped—provided the trigger for their pre-planned attack.

To project absolute strength, Atahualpa engaged in psychological warfare against his own men. After he remained stoic as a Spanish horse breathed on him, he ordered the execution of soldiers (and their families) who had flinched, brutally enforcing a public code of fearlessness.

Francisco Pizarro's invasion of Peru was heavily influenced by the recent success of his cousin, Hernán Cortés, in Mexico. The fall of the Aztecs provided a tangible model for conquest, proving that small bands of conquistadors could topple vast empires. This precedent made it easier for Pizarro to secure funding and royal support.

Pizarro's ambush wasn't an improvisation but a standard Spanish colonial tactic: "theatrical terror." This strategy used a sudden, overwhelming, and performative display of violence to psychologically shatter a numerically superior enemy, a method honed in previous American conquests.