Why Aztec Warriors Were Successful: Military and Empire

Introduction

For almost two centuries, the Aztec Empire was a society that valued the skills of its warriors above all else, and the success of those warriors gave the Aztecs a decisive advantage over their rivals in central Mexico. By the end of the 15th century CE, the Aztecs controlled all of central Mexico and received tribute from neighboring peoples who preferred payment to facing the wrath of their legendary warriors. The success of Aztec warriors was due in large part to their skillful use of obsidian-embedded clubs, which were designed to stun rather than kill opponents so that captives could be taken for use as slaves or to satisfy the Aztecs' incessant demand for human sacrifice.

It is reasonable to argue that had it not been for the foreign diseases brought by the Spanish conquistadors — against which the Aztecs had no immunity — the outcome of the encounter between the New World and the Old might have ended in Spanish defeat, given the prowess of the Aztec warrior class. To support this argument, this paper reviews relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature, including a description of the Aztecs' trading empire, a discussion of their agricultural practices, and most particularly an analysis of the military tactics that contributed to Aztec success in battle — until they encountered the Spanish and the biological warfare the invaders carried with them. A summary of the research and its salient findings is presented in the conclusion.

Background and Overview of the Aztec Empire

The Aztec Empire has left a profound legacy on modern Mexico, which even derives its name from Aztec society. The Aztecs were a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people of central Mexico prominent in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. They called themselves Mexica, and both the Republic of Mexico and its capital, Mexico City, derive their names from that word. [1] According to Prem and Kurbjuhn (1997), "The Aztec Empire reached its largest expanse under Moteuczoma II and achieved the form found by the Spaniards in 1519." [2]

The Aztec Empire was not a homogeneous state but was characterized by a diverse group of people in both language and ethnicity. It stretched from the Gulf Coast to the Pacific, to the borders of Mesoamerica in the northeast and far beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the south to the borders of what is today Guatemala. Nevertheless, the empire did not feature a consistent internal structure. As Prem and Kurbjuhn emphasize, "Rather, the empire consisted of a patchwork of areas paying tribute and others with an unclear status. Up until the last moments prior to the Spanish conquest there were substantial changes here." [3]

Furthermore, despite assertions by modern scholars to the contrary, conquest by the Aztecs did not necessarily mean that conquered peoples would be assimilated into the empire — though it did mean they would likely be subjected to ongoing tribute requirements. Prem and Kurbjuhn note that large areas in the border zones maintained their independence despite military conflicts, including the powerful Tarascan Empire in the west, Metztitlan Tototepec and Yopitzinco in the eastern Sierra Madre, the Mixtec Tototepec on the Pacific Coast, and Teotitlan del Camino on the border between Puebla and Oaxaca. [4] This observation is consistent with Nichols (1998), who points out that "in the core of the empire, encouragement of economic growth resulted in a complex interlocking market system, but in the outer, tributary provinces the tribute system exhibited a dendritic structure." [5]

By modern standards, the Aztecs may have seemed bloodthirsty savages with an incessant appetite for human sacrifice and even cannibalism, but they were shrewd about recognizing when to press military advantage and when to accept tribute instead. As Grigg (2002) emphasizes, while the Aztecs were indeed superstitious pagans, "they were far from primitive, excelling at architecture, astronomy, and mathematics. They regarded the abominable practices of human sacrifice and cannibalism as practical necessities." [6] The Aztecs were also candid about their military limitations. Nichols notes that the empire kept enemy states surrounded by conquered areas, buffering them with strategic provinces and semi-independent client states used to contain formidable rivals such as the Tarascans and Tlaxcallans. The Aztecs also built fortresses and placed garrisons and colonies in selected locations — a strategy suggesting they were unable to conquer those two rivals outright. [7] Contributing to the empire's overall success were the innovative agricultural techniques and meticulous trading systems discussed below.

Agricultural Techniques of the Aztecs

Prior to the Spanish Conquest in 1519, the Basin of Mexico held a population of around two million people occupying communities under the control of Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco. All of the population in this region shared the cultural and technological components of a highly developed civilization typically situated near lakes, making the Aztecs what scholars call a "lacustrine" civilization. [8] While the key principle fueling Aztec society was religion, their day-to-day activities were primarily agricultural in nature. Because the land on which most Aztecs subsisted was not particularly suited to conventional farming, they resorted to landscaping alternatives to make it productive — including irrigation, fertilizer, and terracing on previously unfarmed hillsides. Their truly original contribution, however, was the chinampa. [9]

Ezcurra, Mazari-Hiriart, and Pisanty (1999) describe chinampa agriculture as "an intensive and highly productive agricultural system formed by a succession of raised fields within a network of canals dredged on the lake bed" — frequently described as "floating gardens." [10] This system was a highly efficient means of maximizing available resources. By harvesting aquatic products and spreading muddy canal sediment onto the fields, the chinampa system recycled nutrients leached from fertile soils in a remarkably efficient manner, enabling abundant harvests that supplied many of the needs of the basin's inhabitants. [11]

Despite these advantages, this agricultural approach was ultimately doomed by changes forced upon the Aztecs following the Spanish conquest. The pre-Hispanic settlements were already dependent on importing products from outside the basin — collected forcibly as tribute to the Aztec emperor. With the Spanish Conquest came the redesign of urban areas according to the layout of Spanish towns and cities, and the lacustrine surface was deemed incompatible with the new modalities of construction and land use. [12] As early as the seventeenth century, drainage works of increasing size and complexity were built to free Mexico City from the risk of floods and to dry the muddy subsoil of the old lake bed — changes that produced the progressive disappearance of chinampa agriculture as one of their first consequences. [13] Other factors also contributed to the decline of these floating gardens, including unfavorable agricultural conditions, seasonal crop failures, the absence of domesticated herbivores, the depletion of wild game, food scarcity, famine, and environmental constraints that limited agricultural expansion. [14] While it endured, however, agricultural production exceeded local family needs and was fueled in large part by the extensive trading empire discussed below.

Conclusion

The research showed that for almost two centuries, the Aztec Empire ruled supreme in central Mexico by virtue of its superiority in military tactics and the ferocity of its warriors — especially the jaguar and eagle warriors — as well as the meticulous organization of its trade with neighboring peoples. The Aztecs demonstrated a particular talent for using available resources to their greatest advantage, producing agricultural surpluses and a diverse range of trade goods while their chinampa system endured. Indeed, many of the social and commercial features of Aztec society resembled those of successful empires from other eras as well as industrialized nations today.