The Aztecs lived without plague, without a lack of food, and without equals. This should have been the closest anyone had ever come until then to creating a paradise. And yet they waged constant war, practiced cannibalism, and sacrificed thousands of people alive every year.
How did a civilization create such a mix of peaceful paradise and violent brutality? In this series… We're going to look at the Aztecs from their mythical past to the rise of their civilization and until they failed the test of time. We're not just going to look at the military accomplishments, we're going to look at their politics, their culture, and their economics. And we're going to analyse how their policies in these matters turned them into the dominant empire in the region and why it wasn't another empire that rose instead. We don't know a lot about the Aztecs.
people before they founded their civilization. That's because one of their kings decided to burn all the codexes detailing the origins of the Aztec people. But luckily, another king later tried to recover this part of their history.
But that too was burned when the Spanish arrived. Therefore, their history is rooted in myth and legend, with various sources scraped together over time from Spanish priests who spoke with the locals to a recovered codex here and there. So we do know some things about their past.
The Aztecs came from the plains of what is currently northern Mexico. According to the mythology, the Aztec people originated on the island of Aztlan. Aztec literally means people of Aztlan. Eventually their most important god commanded them to leave Aztlan to travel to a land of paradise where they would receive good weather and bountiful harvests.
The name of this god was Huichilopo. Huitzilopochtli, the sun god. He is comparable to Amun-Ra, Jupiter or Odin.
It is this god who would guide the Aztec people on their journey to a promised land. The migration lasted for centuries. Each time they would settle a location for a few years or a few decades and then move on.
How the Aztec priests would interpret the will of Huitzilopochtli directly affected how the people would live and had ripple effects. throughout Aztec history that may not be obvious at first. For example, on their journey the Aztecs tell of a land named Tolan.
Here the priests built an altar in honour of their faithful god. Huitzilopochtli advised his priests to go down the hill to an area of meadows and construct a dam to block any water going out. This created the first artificial lagoon recorded in Mesoamerican history.
Many animals came to this lagoon such as wild ducks, hummingbirds, and an array of fish. The Aztec people were so happy with this easy abundance of food that they formed a sedentary lifestyle and no longer honoured Huitzilopochtli. They went as far as to ask the priests to just give up on this whole migration thing and take the land of Tolan instead. But one night, lightning rocked the land of Tolan and in the morning, the Aztec people woke up to find their bodies. of those who had forsaken Huitzilopochtli.
Their bodies were mutilated, their chests lay open, and their hearts had been ripped out. Today, scholars mainly see this story as a mythological account of a real event. A bloody struggle between two groups for leadership of the Aztec tribe.
But this event made something clear to the Aztec people. Huitzilopochtli wanted blood sacrifices. From now on, the Aztec high priests would offer human sacrifices and extract human hearts for their god to appease his anger. And so, with all opposition to the great migration dead, the Aztec continued their journey until they arrived at Lake Tetzcoco. And it's the arrival at Lake Tetzcoco where we finally get some written historical records.
Upon their arrival at the lake, they discovered a civilization far more sophisticated than their own. cities, a feudal system, and large temples. What is often overlooked in history is what was there in Central America before the Aztec civilization arose. When I was in school, I was taught that the Aztecs were the first civilization in that region.
But this isn't so. There were already cities everywhere, going as far back to Teotihuacan. Some were independent while others were part of larger kingdoms and paid taxes to a central city.
in exchange for protection. This society was in many ways similar to that of medieval Europe. And when the Aztec decided to settle this land, the locals were very displeased. You see, the people in this region practiced something called land ownership.
A new concept to the Aztecs. So the nobles of other towns and cities weren't particularly happy with a bunch of immigrants from North America coming south to take their land. On the advice of their god, Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec constructed a town, erected solid walls. and elected a warrior to become their leader. This would set a major precedent, for all future leaders of the Aztec would be warriors.
A decision that would, over time, make the Aztecs expansionist. This warrior leader taught his people to craft weapons to defend themselves with. And so the Aztec people evolved from a religious and agricultural society into a militarily aggressive society.
As the hostilities became worse, The Aztec decided to teach all the men, women, and children how to use all sorts of weaponry to defend their tribe. Over time the surrounding kingdoms would fight several battles with the Aztec tribe until these kingdoms decided to kill all the Aztec in an ambush. But the Aztecs instead ambushed their ambushers, ripped out their beating hearts, and offered them to the sun god Huitzilopochtli and after a few more battles decided to kill them. that maybe it was a good time to leave this area.
On the advice of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecs sent a diplomatic envoy to the next king whose land they wanted to settle. This land was ruled by the kingdom of Culhuacan. They asked the king for land and were given a patch of inhospitable land with barren soil and poisonous animals.
They eventually managed to build a town, turn the ground fertile, and settle into a life of agriculture. But Huitzilopochtli, who had become not just the sun god, but also the god of human sacrifice and war, didn't like the sound of a peaceful and quiet life. He ordered his people to attack their Culhuacan overlords.
The Aztec were crafty and sent an emissary to ask for the hand of the king's daughter. She would be crowned as their queen and become the bride of their god Huitzilopochtli. And the king agreed to this marriage.
When the princess arrived at the tribe for their wedding ceremony, the priests took her by her hand and brought her to the temple of her future husband. There, four priests tore off her clothes. A fifth priest emerged with a flint knife. He held the knife in the air and cut open her chest.
With one hand, he reached into her still-living body, grabbed her heart, and ripped it out of her chest. That night, After dinner, that same priest appeared before the king, wearing the skin of his daughter. This spectacle enraged the king, and he ordered all of his people who were there for the wedding to kill every last Aztec. His daughter will be avenged. The ensuing battle was a disastrous defeat for the Aztec.
But the remains of their population fled to an island in the middle. of Lake Texcoco. In their desperation, they sought the counsel of Huitzilopochtli once more, and he told them that their migration was nearly at an end. They were almost at their destination.
The Aztecs would have their homeland. Huitzilopochtli told them to look for a rock with a cactus on top. On top of that cactus, they would find an eagle nesting and devouring a serpent.
After some searching, The Aztecs finally found it and named their new city Tenochtitlan, meaning place of the cactus on the rock. At last, the long journey of the Aztec had ended in 1325. Their god had shown them the promised land. He told them to build a city here and to start claiming ownership of all the lands that surrounded them.
The Aztec had found their island paradise. They built a temple to their god Huitzilopochtli and they celebrated. But the good times were not to last. The Aztec had bigger issues to contend with. Their capital of Tenochtitlan was located between three larger kingdoms.
To the east was the kingdom of Texcoco. To the south were the Culhuacan, whom the Aztec had just escaped from after murdering a princess. And to the west was the kingdom of Azcapotzalcó. Co.
Each of these kingdoms controlled several cities and towns while the Aztec only controlled a small amount of people in a small town located on a small island. The Aztec fully understood that they did not possess the economic, military, or political resources to stand up against any of these larger kingdoms. And so the Aztec decided to lay low until such a time that they could claim the land that was theirs by the will of Huitzilopochtli. The Aztec people became hunters, gatherers, and farmers.
Eventually developing enough to warrant travelling to neighbouring towns to trade raw materials in exchange for manufactured goods and other raw materials that were not available to them. But as they traded, they gained the unwanted attention of those same towns. You see, these towns were part of the kingdom of Azcapotzalco and these towns were being taxed in exchange for protection.
But now… Here was a group of people who had recently settled an island, benefiting from the safe trade provided by the kingdom of Atsapotzalco, and yet paid no taxes. This seemed unfair to many, and so the king of Atsapotzalco implemented heavy taxes on the Aztec. But the Aztecs, realising their inferiority, decided to be diplomatic and sent a committee to treat with the king, to plead with him for lower taxes. To the king however, these were people who were not of the same kind, and who were of who settled one of his islands, who had traded without paying taxes, and who had now dared to ask him to lower taxes.
So he increased taxes even further. These taxes would take such a heavy toll on the Aztec that even the nobility had trouble getting enough to eat. Knowing that military action wasn't an option, the Aztec begrudgingly decided to pay these heavy taxes, becoming a tributary town of the kingdom of Azcapotzalco. But this humiliation also made something blatantly clear to the Aztec.
They needed to drastically modernise their political system in order to keep up with their neighbours. Tribalism simply wouldn't do anymore. And so they took over the feudalistic system that their neighbours used.
With a king at the top, a council of nobles who would rule large parts of territory, and lesser nobles ruling small areas. But who should be the king? Well, before they knew who should be the king… They asked themselves what a good king should be like. And the answer to this question was rather simple. A good king should be the embodiment of Huitzilopochtli on Earth.
Strong, intelligent, and most of all, a good warrior. And these criteria would stay mostly the same for their entire history. As we saw in the beginning with the great migration of the Aztec, they had evolved from a religious and agricultural society into a militaristic society.
And this hadn't changed. The Aztec were still warlike and served in the armies of their Azcapotzalco overlords. So when they had to choose a king, they didn't choose him based on his skill in politics or economics. They chose him based on their skill in battle. And as we will see later on, this meant that the Aztec kings would often resolve problems with military thinking instead of using political savviness, intelligence networks, or economic skills.
And their search came to an end when they heard of a man called Akamapitli, who the Aztecs believed embodied all the great traits a ruler should have and invited him to become their king. And so, in 1375, the Aztec tribe became the Aztec kingdom. King Akamapitli is said to have ruled his kingdom effectively and he is mainly credited for his domestic policies. It is under his reign that the town of Tenochtitlan was turned into a proper city, with temples. Parks, wide open streets, residential areas, canals, and even new land added to their island.
The kingdom enjoyed a period of peace and growth. But as the king grew older, however, he realised that he would die soon. The Aztec needed a successor to the throne. But how do you choose a successor? Do you handpick them?
Do you let them fight it out between them in a bloody civil war? Do you simply choose your eldest son by tradition? Akamapitli's answer to this question was a very odd one for a monarch. He decided that the people of Tenochtitlan would choose his successor in an election.
The people would get to vote on which of his 7 true-born children would succeed him as king. He also had one bastard son but we will get to him later. This election set a precedent, for unlike many European or Asian monarchies, the successor of the Aztec was often chosen by the Aztecs.
While this is the only public election the Aztec ever had to settle the matter of succession, from now on the council of nobles who served the king would be the ones who would choose which of the king's relatives would succeed him. And again, they usually chose a military leader as their king rather than someone who is trained to be a king. And so too in this election, the people had chosen the best warrior as their next leader. And continuing their tradition of unpronounceable names, their next king was named Huitziluitl.
What? Huitziluitl? Their next king was named Huitziluitl. Huitziluitl's contributions were mostly political.
and continued many of the policies of his father. After decades of the same policy of laying low, paying taxes, and forging alliances, it finally bore fruit. Upon the advice of the Aztec council, Huitziluitl went to the king of Azcapotzalco to ask to marry one of his daughters in a political alliance.
The royal council of Azcapotzalco was against this marriage, realizing that this was merely a political move to request concessions from the king through his daughter. Nevertheless, the king agreed to this marriage. And just as the Azcapotzalco council had feared, on the wedding day, the new Aztec queen asked her father to reduce the heavy tax burden on the Aztec. And so, through marriage, King Huatziluitl finally managed to eliminate many of the heavy taxes his people were forced to pay.
The Aztec were now finally free from this burden and able to grow much faster. In his later years however, Their Azcapotzalco overlord went to war against several of the neighbouring kingdoms. And as you may recall, the Aztec had been waging war ever since they got to this part of the world.
So the Aztec joined the army of their overlords and helped to expand the Azcapotzalco kingdom by conquering Tetzcoco and Culhuacan. But in the middle of these wars, King Huitziluitl passed away in 1417. He was succeeded by his son Chimalpopoca at the age of 20. King Chimalpopoca lacked both experience and useful advice. He was completely subjugated to the interests of the council. The most important thing he did, however, was being the grandson of the king of Azcapotzalco.
You see, his grandfather doted on the young Aztec king and the Aztec council made good use of this weakness. They continually told Chimalpopoca to go to his grandfather to ask for favours. You see, Mesoamerican politics revolved around favours and tribute. Friends and allies would grant each other favours, be it food, labourers, or resources. But overlords would demand that as tribute from their vassals.
And so, being the vassal, the Aztec requested favours from their overlords. But with every request, the Aztec council grew more bold. After all, Chimalpopoca was the favourite grandson. But the Aztec council… forgot to take into account the power of the Azcapotzalco council.
For the council of Azcapotzalco was extremely upset that special favours were being granted to the Aztec. The Aztec was seemingly less and less like a vassal and more and more like a potential rival. This all came to a boiling point when the Aztecs requested that Azcapotzalco send the men and materials to build an aqueduct to Tenochtitlan.
This was something an overlord would demand from their vassals, not something a vassal would request from their overlord. And so the council of Atsapotzalco concluded that war was inevitable. Their king, however, tried to prevent war, going as far as to plead with the council to spare his beloved grandson.
But the council had made up its mind. The Aztec kingdom must be subservient, the Aztec people must pay taxes, and the Aztec king must die. And, according to the official record, upon hearing of the final verdict, the old king died of anguish.
While there is no proof that he was murdered, the timing of his death is very convenient. So take that as you will. The council of Azcapotzalco needed to eliminate the Aztec threat. They decided against open warfare and instead opted for a sharp knife. Assassins sneaked into the palace of the Aztec king Chimalpopoca and murdered him in his sleep.
But they didn't stop there. They murdered almost the entire royal family, leaving the Aztec in a state of leaderless panic. Without a strong leader, they would surely lose this war. And so the Aztec once again looked for a strong leader to lead them in their war of independence.
And so they looked for a man who was a strong general and of royal blood. They found these qualities in a man named Itzcoatl, the bastard son of the first Aztec king and the only royal family member who could take on this great burden. And so, in 1426, he was crowned king Ytzchoatar.
He first sent a messenger asking for peace, but that was refused. The Aztec would need to fight. But they couldn't do this alone. They were but one city in a large kingdom which they had helped to forge. So they turned towards the allies that they had made and emphasised how terrible the Azcapotzalco were treating them.
They first made an alliance with the city of Tetzcoco. Tetzcoco was located on the other side of the lake that separated them from the rest of the Azcapotzalco territory. And so they quickly conquered the remaining lands Azcapotzalco controlled on their side of the lake. The Aztec meanwhile conquered the lands north of Tenochtitlan and upon hearing of these victories a third city decided to join the rebellion.
The people of Tlacopan had suffered for too long under the tyranny of Aza Pozalco and joined Tenochtitlan and Texcoco in a desperate war of liberation. Together they formed the Triple Alliance. A strong military, political, and economic coalition that would be the origin of what would eventually become the Aztec Empire. The triple alliance met the army of Atsapotzalco in open battle, fighting fanatically and quickly overpowering their enemy. King Itzcoatl followed the enemy into the city of Atsapotzalco, which served as the capital.
The Aztec invaded the city, murdered the majority of the population, and ordered the city to be burned to the ground. The Aztec had finally gained their independence. Atsapotzalco was no more. And the Aztec were finally free. The Aztec had won a war of independence from their former Azcapotzalco overlords.
The Aztec had won liberty. And the Aztec had won powerful allies. Now the Aztec needed to decide what to do next. First was the issue of what to do with their allies.
Were they going to leave each other alone? Would they maintain their alliance? Would they turn on each other? Secondly… was the issue of what to do with the lands of their former Azcapotzalco overlords.
The Aztec and their allies had destroyed the capital, but most of the territory was still untouched. So a meeting was held to settle both of these matters. Leaders from Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan met and agreed to maintain their alliance instead of more war.
After all, they were not only allies in battle, but also through marriage. And so they continued their triple alliance. But what did this alliance actually entail? Well, each of the three powers would be politically independent with their own king, laws, and sovereignty. Merchants could travel freely between the three states and they would support each other in war.
And it's in war particular that the triple alliance excelled. You see, these three states would frequently go to war and they could call upon their two allies to fight. to supply troops and resources in the war effort. And it's at this point that the Triple Alliance decided how to divide the spoils of war, including the territories of Azcapotzalco.
They decided that the spoils from their shared wars would be shared between the three of them. But not equally shared. Because Tlacopan entered the war of liberation late, only after Tenochtitlan and Texcoco had already achieved major victories. They would receive only half as many spoils as the Aztec and Texcoco. And so they split up Azcapotzalco between them, with Tlacopan receiving 20% of the spoils, and Texcoco and Tenochtitlan both receiving 40%.
But with this new territory came the question of governance. How do you rule over other towns and cities? And the Aztecs simply decided to take over the system of Azcapotzalco. They would rule indirectly, letting their vassals rule themselves as long as they sent buy annual tribute, worship Huitzilopochtli and provide soldiers to the Aztec army in times of war.
In exchange, the vassal would receive free access to the markets of the triple alliance, worship their own gods and receive protection from the mighty Aztec army. As a result of this policy, conquered towns and cities would maintain their way of life. But if their vassal would rebel, they would quickly be crushed by the Aztec army.
which was always nearby. After all, their new territory was close to Tenochtitlan, which itself was on a lake and thus very difficult to conquer. And this is why the Aztec chose this system. The Aztec already had a powerful army, and nobody would think of rebelling when this army would be able to crush them easily.
So this was an easy and cheap way of maintaining control, as they would have a powerful army regardless of whether they had vassals or not. And so the Aztec had secured an alliance with two kingdoms, secured 40% of any booty gained in shared wars, and established control over their new territories. But now they had new problems. The Aztec needed to secure their northern and southern border. Itzcoatl, being the warrior king that he was, decided to send in the military rather than finding a less destructive, and thus more profitable, solution such as expanding the triple alliance, political marriages, or political intrigue.
Itzcoatl first attacked the kingdoms to the south in order to gain access to their chinampas. They were a type of floating garden with fertile soil collected from the bottom of a lake or swamp. These chinampas were so fertile that they could be harvested several times per year, making them much more efficient than land-based agriculture.
For more information on the chinampas, please see the description. Next, the Aztec invaded the region to the north, gaining them control over the entire basin. And because the chinampas were so fertile, and the economics of the region revolved mostly around food and labour, the amount of tribute received from these conquests was immense.
But as more people and tribute flowed into the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the more people and resources they needed to maintain their growth. Such as more food, clothing, or tools. As the Aztecs conquered, they needed to conquer more in order to maintain their conquests, creating an endless cycle of expansion. And so the Aztecs were then forced to undertake military campaigns outside the basin they called their home.
As you can see on this map, the Aztec only controlled a small amount of territory when compared to the total size of Mesoamerica. But under King Itzcoatl they conquered the lands of Coahuilnauac. And it's around this time that the Aztec Kingdom turned into the Aztec Empire.
While there is no definitive moment when it became an empire, it IS the first time that the Aztecs ruled over various different states and peoples. And it's also around this time that the Aztec became the dominant force in the Triple Alliance. While they were still allies of course, the Aztecs had far outgrown their allies in a period of only 14 years. And as the Aztec expanded, this imbalance would only increase. And so from now on when discussing the Aztec Empire, Tlacopan and Texcoco will always be there in the background, independent yet closely linked to the Aztecs, but no longer a major player in regional affairs.
After 14 long years in power, Itzcoatl would pass away from a disease in 1440. When he came to power he had found the Aztecs as a vassal state in a much larger kingdom. When he died, the Aztecs were an empire far larger than their former overlords ever were. As a consequence, his funeral was a majestic display of wealth that lasted for 80 days.
After this mourning period, he was succeeded by his cousin, Motocosuma Iluacamena, often simply referred to as Motokozuma I. On his coronation day, he was visited by the king of Tetsukoko, his cousin. Tetsukoko was afraid that the new Aztak king might turn on them one day and came to discuss the future of the triple alliance. Motokozuma would proclaim that Tetsukoko was still their ally, but that he couldn't appear weak in front of their subjects. And so the two kings agreed on a very odd plan. They would have a simulated war.
where they agreed they would declare war, fight a little, and then rejoice in an Aztec victory. And now that everybody thought he was a strong king, Motocusuma focused inward. He reduced military action in order to pay for various construction projects. The most notable of these is the construction of a giant pyramid in the centre of Tenochtitlan.
At the top were two shrines devoted to two important gods. First was the shrine of Huitzilopochtli. the god of sun and war.
The other was devoted to Tlaloc, the god of rain and agriculture. It stood 100 meters wide, 80 meters in length, and 60 meters tall. Here are some famous buildings for comparison if you want to pause the video and have a look. It is important to know that this is not the first temple of its kind.
It's actually the fourth. As you'll recall, the first structure of Tenochtitlan was a temple dedicated to Huwichtlipochtli, and every king would add materials to enlarge the temple. Montekuzoma's version was the fourth, however, it is the one that you often see in paintings. For years the Aztec Empire would focus on the construction of this giant temple, until the builders needed larger bricks of stone to carve sculptures out of them. But none of the Aztec lands had the required materials, and so the Aztecs would need to look abroad.
Montekuzoma sent a message to the nearby country of Chalca to demand land, labour and materials for the new temple. Imagine for a moment that you are the Chalca King. You are an independent state.
And right next to your borders is a war-hungry Aztec empire. And you've just received a letter from them demanding you give them men and material like you're one of their vassals. If you accept this demand, that would basically mean you're their vassal.
To put this into perspective, let's say that France would send a message to Brazil demanding that Brazil send thousands of tons of tropical wood to build an even bigger Notre Dame. That would not go over well with Brazil or the international community. That would be seen as a gross lack of diplomacy.
And that's exactly how the Chalcas saw this too. The Aztec could have sent up trade routes, simply buy them, or requested them as a gift. But as stated before, the Aztec rulers were warriors, not politicians.
And so when the Chalca king naturally refused, Montezuma sent his armies, cornering their soldiers. capturing their soldiers and then ripping out the hearts of the soldiers for their god Huitzilopochtli while the bodies would slowly burn on a bonfire. Whatever else, the Aztecs were very inventive in their sacrificial rituals. After this victory, Motocasuma resumed military expansion, multiplied the treasury through more tribute, and added another 6 countries to the Aztec realm.
But all this is not to say that his reign was purely one of building and warring. In fact, Motokozuma focused on improving many different aspects of his empire. For example, he set up a system of universal education for all children, both highborn and lowborn, with every person gaining access to a center of learning close to them.
This was centuries ahead of what most other civilizations had at the time. He created templates for how cities and towns should be constructed. Set up a system of courts and judges who handed out specific sentences based on a code of law and created laws on what the classes of commoner, noble, priest, and warrior were and were not allowed to do. He also tried to undo some of the policies of Itzcoatl. For example, Itzcoatl believed that knowing the past of one's people would make them more likely to rebel.
So he ordered all historical books to be destroyed, both the Aztec and the Spanish. and those of conquered territories. Motukazuma however thought that the past was very important and funded an expedition to find their ancient homeland of Aztlan.
While this location is lost to us today, Motukazuma was confident that his expedition had founded and re-recorded Aztec history. And this is where we're going to leave for today. The Aztec reign supreme, their army undefeated.
And from here things can only get worse. In this part, I will explain how the Aztec policies play out over the course of the decades to come. The Aztec Empire after Motecuhzumé I remained largely unchanged in many of its policies. From this moment forward, emperors would be mostly concerned with warfare to expand their empire.
But why was the Aztec Empire always at war? Well, in order to explain exactly why the Aztecs needed to expand, First, we need to look at the four classes of citizens in the Aztec culture. The warrior, the commoner, the noble, and the priest.
Each of these classes had become dependent on an expansionist Aztec empire and in turn, the Aztec empire was dependent on these four classes in order to expand. First, the warrior class. Warriors had three functions in the empire.
To intimidate anyone inside the empire. to stay loyal to the empire, to put down any rebellion that might emerge, and to conquer new territories. But in return, skilled warriors would receive land in exchange for their military service.
Because the Aztec were feudalistic, only very few people were allowed to own land. Commoners worked on the land that belonged to nobles, priests, or skilled warriors. But here's the problem with that… You need warriors to make sure the empire doesn't fall apart.
But eventually you run out of land to give to your warriors. So you need new land to give to new warriors. But while the Aztec Empire looked big on a map, only a small amount of the land was actually suitable to live on.
After all, you need to be close to a fresh water source and other people who can create all the creature comforts a retired warrior wants. And if you needed such land… you almost always had to take it from somebody else. To make sure the Aztecs maintained their current territory, they would need to conquer new territory. Secondly, there are the commoners.
While they were by far the least privileged, they were the most populous and produced the most goods and services in the empire. And the more tribute was sent to Tenochtitlan and its colonies, the more their population expanded. After all, there wasn't any plague like in Afro-Eurasia to keep the population in check.
But now, the Aztecs needed more tribute so their people would have enough food, enough tools, and enough food. and enough other products to maintain their relative comfortable lifestyle. Keep in mind that back in the 15th century, roughly 99% of your population worked in agriculture just to feed the population.
So the Aztec empire needed to expand quickly in order to maintain the lifestyle of their current population. This expansionism meant more commoners would be able to be born, meaning the empire needed to expand further and faster. Third, is the noble class. They were rulers and as a result were very rich. And they liked being rich, so as the empire grew, so did the wealth of the nobles.
And so the nobles were very interested in assuring the Aztec kept expanding for their own gain, to maintain the empire, and to prevent a communist revolt if they were to run out of supplies. As a result, they would put someone on the throne who was focused on growing the empire. The current emperor, Motokozuma, and the previous emperor, Itsukoato, were the greatest reformers of the Aztec empire while the empire was still young and malleable. But after them came a string of rulers who had more brawn than brain, all put in place by these nobles.
Such emperors were easier to control and they were good for expansion, so the nobles loved this system, eventually making them very corrupt. And lastly the priests. The bloodthirsty priests who'd like to eat others'hearts out. And the priests were not proactively favouring expansion.
Rather, they were highly reactionary. As the empire expanded, the priests demanded more human sacrifices for their gods. This made sense.
In war, the Aztecs would bring back captured enemy soldiers and then ritually sacrifice them. In fact, a soldier wasn't promoted based on their ability to lead people or command. kill people, they were promoted depending on how many enemies they captured. They would be granted knighthoods and privileges depending on how many soldiers they personally captured. So as the Aztecs waged more wars, the priests expanded their sacrificial activities.
And so, combining all of this, we can conclude that the expanding empire needed to expand in order to meet the needs of the expanding empire. And this social system worked quite well for the Aztecs at first. Motocasuma had encountered a fledgling empire and when he died in 1469, he left it a major powerhouse in Mesoamerica.
He was succeeded by his son, Axayacatl. Axayacatl's reign included large military expansions, but he was never able to surpass his father. Axayacatl also faced conspiracies to remove him and his council of nobles from power.
And so he sent an army to completely crush the rebels, which sent a message to anyone else who thought he might be weak. And to restore his reputation, he decided to wage war against the Tarzakan state. The Tarzakan were a civilization like the Aztecs with a feudalistic government system. They were unique in that they made weapons made of bronze, something the Aztecs never developed.
In the ensuing war, the Aztec army of 24,000 warriors was almost completely wiped out. From now on, the Tarzakan state would prevent any Aztec expansion east or northeast. In fact, the Tarzakan state was so successful that it would outlive the Aztec Empire. And this was also the first time that two Mesoamerican states clearly defined their territory. Something that was always a loose concept for them with large parts of no man's land between various states.
Axayacatl would desperately try to regain his reputation. But instead, all his military campaigns after this were failures. And now an interesting question comes up.
When people are loyal because they fear your army, what happens when your army loses a war? Well, after various city-states received the news that their emperor wasn't a strong general, many decided to rebel. And so, over the coming years, more and more rebellions popped up that needed to be put down. This put further strain on the Aztec military capabilities as they still needed to expand or else their empire would implode, but also needed to divert troops from the front lines to put down rebellions.
Upon his death in 1481, Aksayacatl left the empire in a state of upheaval and weakness. He would be succeeded by the most incompetent leader in all of Aztec history. His brother, Tizoc.
Tizoc embodied everything that was wrong with the Aztec empire. For example, when Tizoc ascended the throne, he decided to put down a rebellion to show his power. So he decided to make an example of a small town. This should be the case. be an easy victory.
The Aztec army versus a small town. The Aztecs had defeated countless other towns, but Tizoc lost this easy battle against a minor town. And out of the whole campaign he gained only 40 prisoners.
Tizoc was unskilled in battle, indecisive, and had no interest in military expansion. He would soon die under suspicious circumstances, most likely poisoned. Cizok was succeeded in 1486 by a man who was the exact opposite of him. A man named Aoi-Tsuru, the youngest son of Emperor Motokozoma.
He developed new military strategies and expanded the empire's reach from the Caribbean Sea all the way to the Pacific Ocean. He managed to quell many rebellions, but new ones would always keep popping up. As the empire expanded, new subjects became new potential rebels. But he is best remembered.
for the completion of the grand temple in the center of Tenochtitlan, the one started by Motecuhzuma I. An event that is infamous even today and is in fact the very reason why I wanted to make this series in the first place, so I could animate this. The entire empire was invited to join the opening, from the lowest slave to the highest noble, and anybody living in Tenochtitlan itself was forced to join the party. by imperial decree to join the festivities.
The emperor would stand at the top of the temple with his chief advisor and his four most powerful nobles. The drums started playing as the first glimpse of the sun, their god Huitzilopochtli, rose over the horizon. A line of prisoners and slaves would slowly walk up the temple until it was their turn to come before the priests.
There, one by one, Their hearts were ripped out of them like an efficient slaughterhouse. It is said that so much blood flowed from the temple that it was completely covered in blood. The people would bring jars and wait at the bottom of the temple for the blood to slowly trickle down, then collect the blood and go home to spread the blood on their houses and fields to anoint them in this holy blood. It is said that 80,400 were slaughtered in only 5 days in a highly choreographed ritual of murder.
Many historians think the Aztec exaggerated this number to instill fear in their enemies and put the number closer to 10 or maybe 30,000. Regardless, one can only imagine the horrible smell of a city covered in the rotting blood of their slaves and enemies. Ahuizotl also created colonies around the empire to spread the Aztec culture and to have more direct control over far-off territories.
Keep in mind that they did not have the wheel for use in transport, so any food and materials would need to be carried on people's backs. The Aztecs believed that almost any other form of transport is lazy. Furthermore, Ahuizotl declared that any free-born male must be trained as warriors at the age of 18 to secure Aztec interests. While Ahuizotl had reformed and centralized the empire quite a bit, it would be too little, too late.
For when he died in 1502, the empire was still in great turmoil despite a string of military victories. They never managed to put down more rebellions than were popping up. These issues would become the problem of his successor, the son of Emperor Aksayacatl. A man named Motocosoma Xocoyotzin, often referred to as simply Motocosoma II.
By the time he comes to power, the Aztec Empire was turned into a vast empire with lots of trade for the commoners, rebellions and war for the warriors, human sacrifices for the priests, and beautiful metal-crafted ornaments and a corrupt government for the nobles. And despite being corrupt, the Aztec leadership by this point had become well aware that their empire was in trouble, but saw no sustainable way of stopping these issues. We today have historical evidence to point to various alternative economic, social, and governmental systems. You could go with the approach the USA used, for example, and simply build colonies on lands of weaker countries and slowly expand that way with a united culture and strong trade, militaristic, and legislative incentives to remain part of the original country. But the Aztecs lived in an isolated area of the world, and their collection of historical examples to draw upon used similar systems as the Aztecs.
And so the Aztec leadership was forced. to invent a new strategy. One they hoped would solve all their problems.
Do the same thing they have been doing up until now, but do it even more. From now on, vassals whom the Aztecs thought were loyal were given new lands and privileges. But anyone who was perceived as disloyal would have a large portion of their population taken away for human sacrifices.
Far more than previous emperors did now that they had a new shiny temple to use. Reminding the friends and families of those who were sacrificed what happens when you rise up against the Aztecs. But as the Aztecs became more violent, the more cities wanted to leave the Aztec empire fearing they might have their own hearts ripped out one day. And so more cities rebelled. And as a result, the Aztec became more brutal, hoping that that would quell future rebellions.
But instead… This gave ever more credence to the prospect of getting the hell away from these people. And as more rebellions popped up, the emperor became more paranoid. Mato Kizuma II started seeing enemies everywhere, even if they were still loyal, ordering more brutal retaliations leading to further rebellions and on and on and on it went.
This paranoia can be seen best when a comet appeared in the sky. The Aztecs thought that comets stood for doom and signaled the end of an empire. And Emperor Motecuhzuma II was deeply disturbed by this sign of the gods. Motecuhzuma decided to kill all the high priests for failing to predict this comet flying by. Just to give a comparison, imagine if the king of Saudi Arabia decided to murder the entire Sunni Islamic leadership.
Or… if the prime minister of Italy decided to kill the pope and all the cardinals in Vatican City. That is how much power this emperor had and how large his paranoia had grown. And so we eventually arrive in 1519. The Aztecs have been caught in a spiral of more expansion, more rebellion, and more brutality.
The Aztec story started as that of the underdog, slowly and steadily becoming the top dog. But then we saw the Aztec going from top dog to a sick dog. A sick dog suffering from its own inability to govern itself in a sustainable way. The Aztec came to a point where their current policies doomed them.
But at the same time, it was too late to reverse course. If they became benevolent towards their own subjects, that would likely have been perceived as a sign of weakness, and thus increasing the amount of rebellions instead of reducing them. And so the Aztec Empire could only choose between collapsing and collapsing. And all that was needed was for some event to light the spark that would bring the collapse of the central governing structure of the empire. And strange reports were just then filtering in to the emperor.
Reports of strange shapes in the sea, of mountains that move across the water. We have never encountered alien life. But to the Aztecs, the coming of the Spaniards was like aliens landing on Earth.
Spain had arrived on the shores of the Aztec Empire in 1519 with an army ready to conquer the obviously weaker and primitive army of the Aztecs. The Spanish were seen as gods by the natives and easily defeated the Aztecs with powerful guns and impenetrable armour. This is the story we learn in history books.
But this story… is propaganda. The Spanish did not come to invade, the Spanish were not seen as gods by the Native Americans, and the Aztec were not defeated with superior weapons. This propaganda came about for three main reasons.
One, because the Spanish needed to look strong to the world. Two, because it truly believed their Christian people to be superior to the polytheistic Aztecs. And three, because the Aztecs and the Spanish did not truly understand the country.
they were at war with. But before we can start talking about the war, we need to look at the two contrasting empires that are about to clash. On one hand are the Aztecs. They ruled indirectly over a large empire. most of which consisted of tributary states.
They had alienated their own subjects through their own brutality. It was rarely a matter of if a city will rebel, but when a city will rebel. The Aztecs were likely close to collapse from the endless rebellions like many empires before them in Mesoamerica.
Spain, on the other hand, saw great potential in their new American colonies. They had discovered the Americas less than 30 years ago and had set up various colonies. But the Spanish crown didn't invest a lot into these new colonies.
Instead, they gave permits to people to conquer these lands but they would have to fund such wars themselves. Meaning that the people who established the first colonies were mostly ruthless businessmen or common people joining such an expedition to get a share of the profit. There was no real Spanish army in the Americas yet.
And this meant that the Spanish conquerors known as conquistadors, couldn't win an open battle. In fact, they would often have to ally with other tribes using their limited yet advanced weapons to impress and intimidate natives into submission, while their native allies served as their army. But not all Spanish people are brutal conquerors. Some were traders who saw great value in selling cheap European products for the new resources the Americas had to offer.
On one of these expeditions, And they heard from the local Mayans of a land overflowing with gold, somewhere northwest of the Mayan civilization. When this expedition returned to Cuba, the governor of Cuba began seeing dollar signs in his eyes. The governor had just conquered Cuba.
And let's be honest, Cuba didn't sound nearly as profitable as the land of gold. But he needed permission from the crown first in order to conquer this land. So he sent a request to Spain asking permission from the king of Spain to conquer this land of gold. But he also needed information about this new land before he could conquer it. So he sent his trusted brother-in-law, a man named Hernán Cortés, on an expedition of trade and exploration.
He made Cortés sign an agreement that he wouldn't conquer the land of gold. But… Hernán Cortés followed the 62nd rule of acquisition. The riskier the road, the greater the profit. He realized that whoever will conquer this land would likely be assigned by the king to rule it.
And in a society where gold is your currency, conquering a land that was apparently overflowing with gold was too good of a price. So Cortés secretly decided to conquer it for himself. And so Cortes set sail with 11 ships, carrying 630 people.
But most of them were not warriors. In fact, most of them had never even been near a real battlefield. He only had a few hundred native Arawak warriors from Cuba, 30 crossbowmen, and 12 arquebassiers.
But this is the army Cortes would use to conquer the Aztec Empire. But to rule over people, you need to speak with them. So Cortes went looking for some translators. And he found exactly what he was looking for. Just 8 years before a Spanish expedition got shipwrecked in Mayan territory.
They were captured by the Mayans, forced to work as slaves, eventually rose up to become warchiefs of a different tribe, married Mayan women, had the first half-European half-Mayan child, and would eventually fight against the Spanish when they would try to conquer the Mayans. Their lives is basically already a pre-made Hollywood movie. But some of them decided to join Cortés'expedition.
They were able to translate from Spanish to Mayan. Then he also got a Mayan slave woman who could translate between Mayan and the Aztec language. She would eventually learn Spanish and become Cortés'wife and chief translator in Mesoamerica. Now that he would be able to speak to the Aztecs, it was time. to head to the Aztecs.
And so Hernando Cortes made it to the Aztec empire. He founded a town and then headed north to the Totonac Confederacy. They had been conquered by the Aztecs over 50 years ago and were taxed heavily by their Aztec overlords.
He met with their leaders and before long, the Totonac Confederacy had joined the Spanish cause and were an open rebellion. During their meetings, the Totonacs gave Cortes golden jewelry. reinforcing the false notion that the Aztec Empire was a land of gold. And Cortes took several Aztec tax collectors as prisoners and offered them as gifts to the Totonacs.
But here is an interesting question. Cortes, at most, had a few hundred people with him. Why did so many vassals of the Aztecs want to join the Spanish cause in this early stage, when he only had a few hundred people?
Well there is a common myth that the natives thought that the Spanish were gods or godlike. But the only evidence for this comes from the Spanish. Of course, people with pale skin and shiny metal armor… horses and leather, guns and cannons… They certainly gave the Spanish a certain stature amongst the natives who had never seen such a thing.
But they weren't stupid. They didn't actually think the Spanish were gods. In fact, whenever there isn't a source to counter that of the Spanish, such as during private meetings, the Spanish would often claim that the Aztecs were completely willing to subjugate themselves to the Spanish empire of course. Now One common theme of Aztec history is war, death, and blood.
In fact, this is common in most Mesoamerican cultures. The Totonac Confederacy practiced human sacrifices themselves and were no strangers to war. So having witnessed all you've seen so far, let me ask you… do you think they would just give up without a fight? Would they capitulate simply because someone in shiny clothing walked up to them? The Totonac Confederacy didn't join the Spanish because they thought they were in divine presence.
They joined the Spanish to get the hell away from the brutal Aztec Empire. And it's at this point that Emperor Motecuhzuma II started paying attention to the Spaniards who had landed on his shores. The emperor was aware of the Spanish landing on his shores almost immediately.
He had sent some ambassadors to Cortes who had witnessed the firepower of guns and cannons. But the emperor was a busy man and he was and this was just one of several problems he had to deal with. But now that became a different story.
Now Cortes had taken away one of his tributary states. This was troubling. Cortes had decided to head straight for the Aztec capital. Not necessarily to start a war, it was probably too early for that as he didn't have the manpower yet, but he did want to see the city for himself before he'd conquer the empire.
Soon, Cortes'expedition arrived at the Tlaxcala Confederacy. They are this hole right here in the middle of the Aztec Empire. They were a confederacy of about 200 different towns and tribes, but without a central government. The location of this confederacy couldn't have been any better for Cortes.
You see, it was located very close to where Cortes had landed and reached almost all the way to Tenochtitlan itself. It was a bit curious why the Aztecs never conquered them. After all, they were so close and did not have a central government.
This should be an easy victory. Many historians believed that the Aztecs kept the Confederacy intact so that they could always go there if they needed a quick victory or new captives. And they had imposed a full embargo on the Confederacy to keep them in a relatively weak state.
But when Cortes marched into Tlaxcala territory with an army of a supposedly Aztec tributary state, they were expecting another war. Cortes and his people were almost immediately attacked. Cortes used his cannons, guns, and horses to hold off the enemy, but soon the Tlaxcala had completely surrounded Cortes and his army. The Tlaxcala were embargoed and surrounded by the Aztecs.
How could they know these people came from somewhere else? But after three days of battle… and Cortes sending desperate messages of peace. The Tlaxcala leader finally realized that they were not Aztec and so he decided to meet this white man.
Cortes convinced the Tlaxcala that his only goal was to conquer the Aztecs and the Tlaxcala could become important subjects in this new empire Cortes wanted to forge. The Tlaxcala realized the Aztec would kill them all anyway at some point in the future. So if the option is between certain destruction with the Aztecs and possible survival with the Spanish, then the option is easy to make. And so Cortes had gained a second ally. And now Motokozuma the second started treating Cortes seriously.
He had sent ambassadors to Cortes to convince him to turn back. Later, Motokozuma would send gifts of silver and gold, trying to placate the But all that did was convince them that the Aztecs must be extremely rich and so are worth conquering. Cortes would write back to his king of his successes and how easily he was able to extract gold from the Aztec empire. all in an attempt to gain the Spanish king's favour. Now he continued his travel to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and moved his army to the city of Cholula.
Cholula was a religious city, with few warriors protecting it. Instead, they put their faith in their gods and their prestige to keep them safe. Cortes, who didn't follow their gods nor was he impressed by their prestige, decided to move to this city while on his way to Tenochtitlan.
But instead of being greeted by the nobility like before, they were greeted with little fanfare. And this is where the Aztec and Spanish chronicles differ from each other. The Spanish claimed that there was a plot to murder them in their sleep.
And so the Spanish confronted their leader in the main temple, who admitted that they were ordered to resist the Spanish but had not followed up on those orders. So Cortes captured the Cholulan leaders and set the temple on fire. Because of the layout of the city.
Most people who lived close to the temple were nobility. So most people who died in the fire were nobility while most commoners managed to escape death. The Aztecs would claim that this was an unprovoked attack by the Spanish. They claimed that if there was some sort of plot that it was all the fault of the local commander of the garrison.
But regardless, thousands of people were killed and the city was burned down. There was no denying it anymore. the Spanish were a force to be reckoned with. And from now on, no city would ignore the Spanish anymore, and even Emperor Motokizuma had to admit that his attempts to placate the Spanish with gifts of gold and silver had failed. So he sent a message to Cortes, inviting him and the Spaniards to Tenochtitlan and meet the Emperor himself.
An Aztec poem rhetorically asked, Who could conquer Tenochtitlan? Who could shake the foundation of heaven? The answer to this poem had always been… Nobody could. But the Aztec would soon find out that no city is impenetrable. Cortes arrived on the Lake Tetzcoco.
In the middle was the vast city of Tenochtitlan. The city had changed a lot since we last talked about it. The city suffered from floods, so the Aztecs had decided to go Dutch a few hundred years early. and build a dam to prevent these floods.
The city had grown so large that it now held a quarter of a million people, and the city had been connected to the mainland with giant causeways. And it is on one of these causeways that Motecuhzuma II came out to greet Cortes. And almost immediately, the two sides suffered from massive communication problems. Cortes tried to embrace the Aztec emperor, but touching the emperor was illegal. So Cortes was restrained.
Montekuzuma handed Cortes valuable gifts. This was a normal custom where two equals would exchange gifts. But Cortes didn't give anything in return, insulting the Aztecs.
Yet nonetheless, Montekuzuma offered the Spanish to live in his father's, Emperor Axayacatl's palace while they were in the city. Inside this palace, the Spanish found a large amount of treasure, which was Axayacatl's inheritance. to Motocasuma. While they couldn't bring it back with them yet, the Spanish did plan on stealing the inheritance as soon as possible.
Things escalated even further when the Spanish asked to put a cross and a picture of the Virgin Mary two important Christian symbols alongside the Aztec gods on top of their great pyramid. And just in case the significance of this is lost on you… this would be like an Indian delegation asking to put a giant golden statue of Buddha in the center of Mecca or Vatican City. As you can imagine, the priests were furious and the request denied.
Then some Aztecs killed several Spanish soldiers at Veracruz. And the Spanish response? Well, they held the emperor hostage to ensure their own safety. And this was just in the first week in Tenochtitlan. And while the Aztecs wanted to attack the Spanish and drive them from their soil, the emperor was afraid the Spanish would kill or replace him.
So for half a year, Motecuhzuma was the puppet emperor of Cortes. And while they stayed in the capital, they were getting a pretty good idea of how brutal their hosts were. So let's take a closer look at how the Aztecs were brutal by selecting three random gods. The rain god, fertility god, and fire god.
The rain god required tears, so they would beat a child in front of their friends and family. And only when the child and their loved ones had cried enough would the child be drowned. The tears would bring rain.
Obviously. Or maybe a priest decided a woman looked like the fertility god. Then they would first get you drunk, force you to drunkenly dance your way to the nearest temple, and then remove your head.
The blood that came out of the neck would bring fertility to the crops. Try not to think about this next time you go to a bar. Or perhaps the fire god needed another sacrifice. Then you'd first get drugged to anesthetise you. Then they will tie you up… And if you think that still isn't hot enough, they would throw you onto a fire.
When you are nice and crispy, but still alive, they will take you out of the fire to finally remove your heart. While the Spanish probably didn't witness all these types of sacrifices, it does beg the question, how could the Spanish see them as anything other than utter savages? How could these good Christians approach proof of such behaviour. How could they not think they were superior to the Aztecs? But the Aztecs thought this was their holy duty.
They believed that if they did not provide enough blood to their gods, then the world would come to an end. The sun would stop rising, and the world would be covered in an endless long night. And it went deeper than that. The Aztecs simply couldn't understand the Spanish obsession with gold. They didn't understand the very reason they were there.
And this makes sense. When you don't have a monetary system based on gold, then gold has no more value than the jewellery you can make out of it. The Aztecs didn't understand the Spanish because they were stupid. They didn't understand the Spanish because they had never even conceived of the idea that something with little inherent value could be a good thing.
be used as currency. The Aztecs had a currency based on cocoa beans, which you can make chocolate out of. And chocolate has obvious value. I mean look at this.
Forget the gold standard, we need the chocolate standard. But remember when I told you that if a Spaniard wanted to conquer territory in the Americas, then they would first need a permit from their monarch. Well Cortes never got that permit.
And by now… Spain had sent an expedition to rein Cortes back in. So Cortes had to leave to solve this issue, taking his most disciplined soldiers with him while leaving the least reliable ones back in Tenochtitlan. Which resulted in the remaining Spanish soldiers deciding it was a good idea to massacre thousands of unarmed Aztec nobles.
Not long after, people gathered around the palace where the Spanish had been living and put it to siege. inside their own city. And for the only time in history, the Aztecs chose a new emperor while the old one was still alive.
They chose Quilohuac, the brother of Motecuhzumel II. He was in strong opposition to letting Spaniards in their city, so he seemed to be a good replacement. The Spanish, who still held on to ex-emperor Motecuhzumel II, sent him to the balcony to persuade the people. that they should let the Spanish go back to the shores in peace. But remember what the Aztecs thought were good emperors?
They believed an emperor should be a strong warrior, a brave leader, and the embodiment of their sun god, Huich de Lepochtli. Instead, they were spoken to by a man who let himself be captured, let himself become a puppet, and now asked them to peacefully let the Spanish go. We don't know exactly what happened, but Motokizuma was killed that night, both sides accusing the other of regicide. But regicide or no, the Spanish had to escape.
With all that gold of course. While sneaking out of the city, they were spotted and were forced to cut themselves through the Aztecs to make it out of the city. Most of them would drown in the canals as their armour and stolen gold dragged them down. But while they were alive, the new emperor wasn't as diplomatic as Mato Kizuma had been.
Quiluac had the retreating Spanish forces attacked until they arrived in Tlaxcala. And while they were seeking refuge in Tlaxcala, the Spanish began to prepare for an invasion of Tenochtitlan. They received reinforcements from Cuba after Cortes convinced everybody to join his side.
And he received an estimated 100,000 soldiers from Tlaxcala and various Aztec tributary states. On top of that, Cortes managed to convince almost everybody else to remain neutral, meaning the Aztec couldn't rely on their tributaries for support. But while the Spanish had been preparing, they also began wondering.
Wondering why the great armies of Tenochtitlan didn't lay siege to Tlaxcala and do away with the Spanish force once and for all. Well, a smallpox epidemic started ravaging the empire. An empire that had never even conceived of the concept of a plague was all of a sudden dealing with one of the worst diseases humanity had ever seen.
The plague killed tens of thousands, including the emperor himself. The ravaged Aztec quickly elected a new emperor, a man named Cuauhtemoc, the eldest son of Emperor Ahuizotl. The two sides would fight various battles.
Sometimes the Aztec would win, and often the Spanish would win. For the Spanish and their allies managed to get an army together that far outmatched that of the Aztecs. One by one, The Spanish army managed to conquer the surrounding cities of Tenochtitlan, with Cortes making the ancient city of Texcoco his base of operations. And it's at Texcoco where the greatest works of Aztec literature were being held. And it's at Texcoco that the Spanish would burn those libraries to the ground.
Which is why we know so little about the Aztecs, and many of our sources come from after the conquest. The siege of Tenochtitlan lasted for nearly 8 months. The first problem was that the city was only approachable through the causeways. That meant that only a few warriors could stand side by side and were vulnerable on their flanks by attack from canoes.
After Spain lost the first battle on the causeway, they scuttled their ships, dragged the individual pieces all the way to the lake, then rebuilt the ships in the lake. And spears and arrows were no match for bolts, bullets, and cannonballs. They also destroyed the aqueduct.
depriving the people of sufficient fresh water. And they blocked all the causeways, depriving people of sufficient food. And only when everything was against the Aztecs did the Spanish manage to push the Aztecs back on their great causeway. The Aztecs fought on to the end. They fought in Texcoco and Tlacopan.
They fought from the long causeway to the narrow canals. They defended their island city, whatever the cost. They fought on the streets. They fought at their temples. They fought at their homes.
They never surrendered. They were defeated. Even after the Spanish and their allies entered the city, it would take another three weeks before the last of the Aztec forces were defeated.
After which, they sacked the city for an additional four days. It is estimated that 100 to 240 thousand people died, and thousands of survivors were brought back to Tlaxcala for sacrifice. But what happened to Mesoamerica after the conquest?
What happened to the Aztec? After all, despite the hundreds of thousands of deaths, there were still tens of thousands of Aztec people left. Well, their city was to become the new capital of the new Spanish colony of New Spain, which the Spanish renamed Mexico City. Because the Aztecs referred to themselves as Mexica, their emperor was tortured and eventually executed.
The Aztec people were nearly wiped out, as mostly children and the elderly survived the carnage. But parts of their civilization endure to this day in modern Mexican society, even though their empire was destroyed with their capital. With Tenochtitlan defeated, there wasn't really anyone left to pay tribute to.
That was, until the Spanish visited these tributary states, demanding they pay tribute. Having just faced down plagues, there was no other alternative but to capitulate. They became part of the colony of New Spain.
And over time this colony would conquer all surrounding civilizations. Mayan, Tarasqan, and many more. On one hand, people weren't being sacrificed anymore.
Cortes made that practice illegal. But the Spanish would slowly implement a system of centralization to make New Spain's government structure similar to Europe's. It would take away power from individual states and incorporate it into a single unified state.
eroding many of the individual cultures inhabiting Mesoamerica at the time. For example, the Aztecs had universal education. The Spanish replaced this system with church teaching, limiting the amount of people with an education down to a handful. And that great pyramid in Tenochtitlan was taken down to build a cathedral. This temple wasn't rediscovered until the 20th century.
And when silver was discovered, thousands were sent to their deaths in the silver mine. deadlines. That this would drive the economy of New Spain and would, eventually, caused the Spanish inflation that would end Spain as a superpower.
The Spanish would send missionaries to convert local peoples, with varying degrees of success. The locals and the Spanish didn't understand each other's religions due to the same communication issues mentioned earlier, with the locals creating hybrid religions incorporating parts of their own religion and Christianity. Christianity was as incomprehensible to the local population as the Aztec religion is incomprehensible to us today.
At least, I hope nobody in my audience is sacrificing their neighbours to the sun. But it is not to say that all civilizations were worse off. Not at all. The Tlaxcala in particular were given a higher status and were often given more prestigious roles.
They supported the Spanish in various wars and intermarried with the new Spanish colonists, creating an ethnically mixed nobility in New Spain. And Afro-Eurasia gained access to chocolate. For thousands of years people had to live without chocolate.
But we also got tobacco and tomatoes, so it's not all good. After the Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire, the Spanish would soon forget their native allies when they would write the history books. The Spanish conquistadors would attribute their victories mostly to Spanish might, Spanish steel, and God's will. They would in fact believe that their conquest of the natives, their brutal treatment, and their forced conversion to Christianity were a great benefit to Native Americans.
And this is somewhat understandable. When you have been taught your entire life that people who aren't Christian will be sent to eternal hellfire if you are taught that Christian civilization is the greatest civilization to have ever existed, then it's understandable that you think you're spreading goodness. Then you believe you're spreading the greatest way of life and saving their souls. And who could argue against that?
And so for centuries the narrative of the righteous Spaniards was propagated throughout the world. But the greatest lesson of all is that the Aztec Empire didn't fall because they were invaded. Nor was it disease. Plague killed the people and the Spanish merely gave the rebellious subjects a leader to unite behind. No, it was the Aztec who killed the Empire.
It was their failed political system that doomed them in the end. If they had centralized. If they had answered problems not with weapons but with benevolent policy, if they had created a unifying culture, then the Spanish wouldn't have found any allies and disease wouldn't have been their undoing.
True, it is unlikely a colonial European country would live in peace with a technologically inferior country. And while it's likely that the Aztec Empire would have fallen anyway, dead dawn did not need to come so soon, so suddenly, or so savagely. If the Aztecs had put better leaders on the empire's throne, a better culture in people's minds, and a better political system as their government. But this did not happen. Instead, the Aztecs gave the most convincing argument against feudalism, brutality, and the rule through fear.
Because one day your vassal will rebel. One day your people will revolt. One day a government will no longer be feared. And when that happens… Governments fall.
From the earliest civilizations all the way to the 21st century, governments failed to learn this lesson, thinking that they will be different. But they are not. Look at any government which rules through these methods and they will follow a similar collapse as the Aztecs.
Did you like this series and want more of it? Then let me know in the comments whether you want me to cover Mayan city-states, the history of Teotihuacan, Or perhaps you'd like to learn more about other mesoamerican states such as the Tarascon state. Tell me down below about that because otherwise I'll find other topics to cover if people don't really like these videos.