This led to a war of succession between two of Huayna Capac’s other sons in which the incumbent, Huáscar, was defeated by his half-brother Atahualpa just before the arrival of the Spanish. Pizarro had made two previous attempts to invade this vast and sophisticated society, but it was only after smallpox had left it enfeebled and divided that he was able to conquer the Inca Empire with 100-odd foot soldiers and a few dozen cavalry.
I read somewhere that Pizarro used the civil unrest to his adavnatage. He pitted the factions against one another by promising alligance and men to ther cause.
