Kyle Katz Why Were Aztec

Kyle Katz

Why Were Aztec Warriors So Successful?

As one of the greatest civilizations of the New World, the Aztec Empire placed great value and importance on the skills and abilities of its warriors, due to the fact that the Aztecs existed side by side in Central and Southern Mexico (particularly the Yucatan Peninsula) with numerous rival cultures which forced them to guarantee that their warriors were the best-equipped, bravest and most skilled when it came to waging and winning military campaigns against their enemies. However, exactly why the Aztec warriors were so successful against their rivals has much to do with long-practiced Aztec military strategies that worked exceptionally well, their ability to outwit and deceive the enemy, and their use of rather sophisticated weaponry, all of which provided distinct advantages when it came to conquering, dominating and maintaining control over a vast geographical area.

Review and Discussion

Background and Overview

According to Hanns J. Prem and Kornelia Kurbjuhn, the Aztec Empire "reached its largest expanse under the rule of Moteuczoma II" 1 and by the time of the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519 had achieved much related to architecture, social organization, and economic power. Geographically, the Aztec Empire, characterized by a diverse group of people from various ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, extended from the western coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, northeastwards into the borders with Mesoamerica and southward beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in what today is the nation of Guatemala. Prem and Kurbjuhn also point out that the Aztec Empire, rather than possessing a consistent political structure, was composed of "a patchwork of areas paying tribute" with most of its citizens occupying unclear social positions, 2 an indication that those who were conquered by the Aztecs were not necessarily assimilated into Aztec society and culture but continued to pay some form of tribute. However, a number of large, border-zone areas did manage to maintain independence from the empire despite facing many military conflicts with such adversaries as the empire of the Tarascans in the west. 3