can we control our fate? What might have prevented the fall of the Aztec Empire and other civilizations like it in the Americas? Was Montezuma always meant to be a failed leader or was he simply the wrong emperor at the wrong time?

1. Yes. What we do (our actions) control what happens in the future.
2. If there were no conquistadors introducing disease and guns, they probably wouldn't have fallen as soon or as drastically.
3. Montezuma, while weak-willed and superstitious, was not always meant to be a failed leader. He was a pretty decent leader before Hernan Cortes arrived. I believe he was simple the wrong emperor at the wrong time. Perhaps if someone stronger and more critically thinking was on throne at the time of the conquistadors, the Aztec Empire wouldn't have fallen as tragically.