 | Theodore Dwight - 1846 - 764 pages
...been so disastrous. Had he failed, it might well have seemed an act of madness ! Yet it was the result of deliberate calculation. He had set fortune, fame,...perish. The measure he adopted greatly increased the chances of success : but, to carry it into execution, in the face of an incensed soldiery, was an act... | |
 | William Hickling Prescott - Mexico - 1873 - 638 pages
...similar ; but none where the chances of success were so precarious and defeat would be so disastrous.3* Had he failed, it might well seem an act of madness....and must abide the issue. There was no alternative aaQueninguno8emtancobarde ** Perhaps the most remarkable y tan pusilanitne que queria estimar of these... | |
 | Richard Zeckhauser - Business & Economics - 1991 - 418 pages
...Although his soldiers were vastly outnumbered, they had no choice but to fight and win. "Had [Cortés] failed, it might well seem an act of madness. . . . Yet it was the fruit of deliberate calculation. . . . There was no alternative in his mind but to succeed or perish."14 Destroying the ships gave Cortés... | |
 | José López Portillo - History - 1992 - 416 pages
...similar; but none where the chances of success were so precarious, and defeat would be so disastrous. Had he failed, it might well seem an act of madness. Yet it was the fruit of deliberate calculation There was no alternative in his mind but to succeed or perish. The measure he adopted greatly increased... | |
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The destruction of his fleet by Cortes is, perhaps, the most remarkable passage in the life of this remarkable man. History, indeed, affords examples of a similar expedient in emergencies somewhat similar; but none where the chances of success were so... 