{"id":2430,"date":"2018-08-20T21:43:57","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T21:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2430"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:43:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:43:39","slug":"aztec-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/aztec-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Aztec Warfare: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aztec warfare was a central component of the expansion of the Aztec Empire<\/a>. For example, warfare help the Aztec to capture prisoners for sacrifice, and collect tribute from conquered regions in the Valley of Mexico. Aztec warriors<\/a> trained from a young age, and elite fighters, such as the Jaguar and Eagle warriors, held high status in Aztec society<\/a>. Battles were highly organized and made use of weapons like obsidian-bladed macuahuitl swords, atlatls (spear-throwers), and bows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WHO WERE THE AZTEC?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Aztec Empire<\/a>\u00a0was a civilization in central Mexico that thrived in the time before the arrival of European explorers during the\u00a0Age of Exploration<\/a>.\u00a0 Throughout its history as a civilization the Aztec Empire expanded across much of central Mexico and other surrounding areas, to become the most dominant and powerful people in the region.\u00a0\u00a0Tenochtitlan<\/a>, the main Aztec city (or altepetl), was the center of this vast empire.\u00a0 Aztec warfare was an important aspect of the expansion of the Aztec Empire throughout its history, as the Aztec warriors<\/a> and tribute system helped the central leaders of Tenochtitlan control the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout much of their history, the Aztec were a militaristic people who focused on the\u00a0expansion of their empire. Following the Aztec\u2019s founding and construction of Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico in 1325, they quickly\u00a0established their authority across the other societies in the valley.\u00a0 At the time the Valley of Mexico was populated by many different powerful civilizations, including: Chalco, Tepanec, Tlacopan, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and Chichimec. Several of these civilizations were also on the shores of Lake Texcoco, including the Culhuacan, which were on the south shore.\u00a0 Eventually, the Aztec Empire extended throughout most of central Mexico.\u00a0 As such, warfare was a central component of\u00a0Aztec culture<\/a>\u00a0and Aztec warriors played an important role in\u00a0Aztec society.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map
Map of the Aztec Empire and Aztec Triple Alliance by History Crunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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AZTEC WARFARE – IMPORTANCE TO THE AZTEC EMPIRE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In general, warfare served two main purposes in Aztec society.\u00a0 First, it was important to the territorial expansion of the Aztec Empire.\u00a0 As stated above, central Mexico was made of many different city-states during the rise to prominence of the Aztec civilization.\u00a0 The Aztec used their warriors and military might to defeat and suppress these different societies.\u00a0 The defeated city-states, which are referred to as \u2018altepetl\u2019, were allowed to maintain their current rulers and religion so long as they met several requirements, including: support the Aztec Empire and\u00a0huey tlatoani<\/a>\u00a0of Tenochtitlan, pay tribute to Tenochtitlan, and include the\u00a0Aztec god\u00a0Huitzilopochtli<\/a>\u00a0in their own religious beliefs and practices. Any altepetl that did not follow these conditions were often severely punished by the powerful Aztec military which would attack the city and destroy temples and public buildings.\u00a0 While this allowed the Aztecs to become the most powerful society in all of Mesoamerica, it also caused them to create many enemies from the surrounding city-states that they controlled<\/a>.\u00a0 As such, Aztec warfare was important in terms of maintaining the overall empire and ensuring the continuation of the tribute system which funneled goods into Tenochtitlan on a regular basis.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second main purpose of warfare for the Aztec was for the objective of obtaining slaves or captives that could be sacrificed as part of the\u00a0Aztec religious beliefs<\/a>. The Aztec obtained the people for\u00a0sacrifice\u00a0in a number of different ways.\u00a0 Some were willingly sacrificed while others were prisoners in war.\u00a0 Regardless, the Aztec (and other Mesoamerican societies) viewed dying for the gods<\/a> to be an honor.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flower
Aztec Warriors from the Florentine Codex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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AZTEC WARFARE – BATTLES AND FLOWER WARS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In terms of combat, battles were usually initiated at dawn and their beginning was marked by the start of smoke signals.  Drums and other loud instruments were sometimes used to notify the many soldiers that the battle was to begin.  The battle generally began with projectile type weapons such as slings, darts and arrows, after which the warriors would run into the battlefield to carry out hand-to-hand combat with melee weapons.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bIn addition, the Aztec often organized other battles with their rivals called the \u2018Flower Wars<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0 These battles occurred at different times of the year than the campaigns of conquest that the Aztec used to expand their empire and were much different in their intent. The Flower Wars were generally organized battles in which members of the Triple Alliance<\/a> including Aztecs faced off against rival city-states.\u00a0 The two sides would structure the battle such that each side has an equal number of warriors and used only close-combat weapons.\u00a0 The purpose of the Flower Wars was for warriors to practice and display their combat skills while also allowing them the ability to take prisoners for the purpose of sacrifice<\/a>.\u00a0 A common participant of the Flower Wars was the Tlaxcala, who were a rival city-state to the Aztec.\u00a0 Historians believe the Flower Wars occurred primarily between 1450 and 1520 when Spanish conquistadors arrived into the region and famously overthrew the city of Tenochtitlan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Aztec Jaguar Warrior<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC WARFARE – SPANISH ACCOUNT<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Spanish account from the 16th century highlights Aztec warfare. Titled \u2018Narrative of Some Things of New Spain and of the Great City of Temestitan\u2019, the account is from an unknown Spanish conquistador who tells of his experiences in the New World and what he witnessed of the Aztec Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is one of the most beautiful sights in the world to see them in their battle array because they keep formation wonderfully and are very handsome. Among them are extraordinary brave men who face death with absolute determination. I saw one of them defend himself courageously against two swift horses, and another against three and four, and when the Spanish horseman could not kill him one of the horsemen in desperation hurled his lance, which the Indian caught in the air, and fought with him for more than an hour, until two foot soldiers approached and wounded him with two or three arrows. He turned on one of the soldiers but the other grasped him from behind and stabbed him. During combat they sing and dance and sometimes give the wildest shouts and whistles imaginable, especially when they know they have the advantage. Anyone facing them for the first can be terrified by their screams and their ferocity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Aztec tlatoani Nezahualcoyotl dressed in armor and holding a obsidian weapon and shield. (Codex Ixtlilxochitl)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aztec warfare was a significant part of the overall history of the Aztec Empire. For instance, Aztec warfare influenced the expansion of the empire throughout the Valley of Mexico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,80],"tags":[77,15,79],"class_list":["post-2430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aztec-empire","category-mesoamerica","tag-aztec-empire","tag-history","tag-mesoamerica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2430"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5754,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2430\/revisions\/5754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}