Aztec Warriors

It was A.D. 1519 and they were fighting for their lives.  They were brave and mighty men, representing what was once the most powerful empire in Mesoamerica.  Who were they?  They were Aztec warriors, brutal yet effective, powerful yet often non-lethal, outgunned yet courageous.  They were the noblest class of Aztec society, destined for the highest realm of the after-life.  Their duty was to obtain captives to serve as human sacrifices; offerings of flesh and blood to keep the sun in motion and the gods content.  Their ferocity promoted their status in the empire, but their final years were spent fighting a strange enemy never encountered before, whom they had first worshipped as gods.  This is their story.

Aztec religion centered around the need to nourish their gods with human hearts and blood.  These had to be provided from captives from other tribes, and so for obvious reasons the warriors were seen as the Aztecs’ line of survival.  They were engaged in a constant “sacred war,” one that required nonlethal means.  For this reason, the Aztecs developed their own specialized weaponry, and they continued to do so in lethal warfare to expand the empire and continue their conquest of Mesoamerica.  Spears were tipped with obsidian, as was the maquahuitl, a wooden club.  Shields were made of such things as jaguar skin and decorated with feathers.  Flint and obsidian knives, stabbing javelins, and slings armed with firestones added to their deadly arsenal, along with their most famous invention, the atlatl.  Also known as a spear-thrower, it enabled an ancient warrior to use a spear as a missile capable of traveling over a hundred yards and going straight through a man.  This struck fear in even the Spanish conquistadors.

To travel up the social hierarchy of the Aztecs also required military prowess.  Every emperor had to first prove himself on the battlefield, proving to the people that he could be a successful leader.  Aztec men underwent military training starting at the age of 17.  Noblemen underwent training as well, and the priests engaged in combat, because it was how tribute was paid to the Aztec gods of course. 

The hearts of the bravest enemy warriors were considered most nourishing to the gods, and the bravest Aztec warriors joined an elite class as either Jaguar or Eagle warriors.  They were the most feared, and dressed to match their mascot.  There were also the Otontin and Cuahchicqueh, who vowed to never retreat from battle.  These ranks were achieved through capturing enemy warriors to be offered as sacrifices on Aztec temples.

But all this would be brought to an end beginning on November 8, 1519, according to the Aztec calendar, when Cortes and his group of soldiers from Spain arrived in Tenochtítlan.  This was the beginning of the end for some of the mightiest warriors in history.  They first viewed Cortes and his men as Quetzalcoatl, one of their chief gods, and his followers arriving.  However, they soon realized their error but it was too late.  Though desperately trying to resist the invaders, the Spanish were assisted by neighboring tribes that resented Aztec rule.  Spanish smallpox wiped out much of the population, but resistance groups remained and made life difficult for the Spanish, even shortly after the surrender of Cuauhtzmoc on August 13, 1521, thus ending Aztec rule.  The remaining warriors fought to the death and the conquistadors would forever live in fear of the atlatl, which struck conquistadors down from 100 meters away, the spear penetrating their armor and going completely through their bodies.  Unfortunately, this would be the only legacy the Spanish would care to remember of the Aztec warriors.