Dominic Sandbrook

The moment has come.

Now, this army does not exist.

There is no attack on Cajamarca.

But as John Hemmings says in his book, the key to the story is the hysteria and the paranoia that has now seized the Spaniards.

They're in the middle of nowhere.

They're thousands of miles from home.

They're surrounded by 12 million people.

They're absolutely terrified now this gold is going to be taken from them and they're going to be attacked.

They've never fought an Inca army, actually.

They've attacked effectively unarmed Incas in the square.

But that's not the same as a pitched battle where the Incas are attacking them.

I mean, I'd be paranoid in their shoes.

Of course you would.

Of course you would.

So they have another meeting.

Almagro encodes a march into the meeting.

And this time, it's clear that Pizarro is outnumbered.

And the royal officials crucially back Almagro up and say, yeah, Atahualpa must die.

And so Pizarro agrees.

I don't doubt the sources that Pizarro is very reluctant because they're kind of unanimous on this point.