The Mexica were a deeply militarized society, and war was a central feature of Mexica political, religious, and economic life. The Mexica state was built by conquest, and the standing army of Tenochtitlan was one of the strongest military forces in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Mexica army was organized around a hierarchy of military orders, the most famous of which were the Eagle Warriors and the Jaguar Warriors, and it was equipped with a wide range of weapons, including the famous macuahuitl, a wooden club edged with obsidian. The Mexica also conducted a unique form of ritualized warfare, the flower wars, in which rival states agreed to fight for the purpose of capturing prisoners for sacrifice.
The Mexica military system was dismantled by the Spanish conquest of 1519-1521, an event that is one of the most thoroughly documented and most fiercely debated in world history. The conquest was carried out by a small band of Spaniards led by Hernán Cortés, who, with the aid of thousands of indigenous allies, particularly the Tlaxcalans, brought down the Mexica state in less than two years. The conquest was followed by three centuries of colonial rule, in which the surviving indigenous population was gradually reduced in number and incorporated into the Spanish colonial system. Yet the indigenous resistance to Spanish rule did not end with the fall of Tenochtitlan, and there were numerous revolts and uprisings in the decades that followed. The basic tactical unit of the Mexica army was the veintena (a band of roughly twenty warriors) led by a senior warrior, with larger formations such as the centzontli of around 400 warriors and the xiquipilli of around 8,000 warriors assembled for major campaigns.
The Mexica army was composed of both professional warriors and conscripted commoners. The professional warriors were the elite of Mexica society, and they occupied a high position in the social hierarchy. The most successful warriors could rise to the highest levels of the military, and the most celebrated warriors were honored with the right to wear distinctive insignia, to live in special houses, and to eat in special dining halls. The Mexica also had a system of military service in which all young men were expected to serve for a period of time, and the telpochcalli schools provided military training to all commoner boys.
Weapons, Armor, and Tactics
The Mexica used a wide range of weapons, including the famous macuahuitl, a wooden club edged with obsidian blades. The macuahuitl was the principal close-combat weapon of the Mexica army, and it was capable of inflicting terrible wounds. The Mexica also used spears, bows and arrows, slings, and atlatls, or spear-throwers, which allowed the user to throw a spear with much greater force than was possible by hand. The Mexica did not have iron or steel, and their weapons were made of wood, stone, and obsidian, but they were nevertheless formidable, and the obsidian edges of the macuahuitl were sharper than the steel of the Spanish swords.
The Mexica used a variety of armor, including quilted cotton armor, called ichcahuipilli, which was effective against obsidian and arrow wounds. The Mexica warriors also wore wooden helmets, often decorated with feathers, and they carried shields made of woven reeds, decorated with the insignia of their military order. The most distinctive armor was the suit of the Jaguar Warriors, who wore suits of jaguar pelt, and the suits of the Eagle Warriors, who wore feathered suits that resembled the wings of an eagle.
The Mexica used a variety of military tactics, including ambush, encirclement, and assault. They were particularly skilled at the assault of fortified cities, and they developed a number of techniques for the breach of walls and the capture of strongholds. They were also skilled at river crossings and at the conduct of amphibious operations, particularly in the lake environment of the Valley of Mexico. The Mexica military system is discussed in detail in the dedicated section of this encyclopedia, and it ranks among the most important topics in the study of Mexica civilization.
The Flower Wars
The flower wars, called xochiyaoyotl in Nahuatl, were a unique form of ritualized warfare that was practiced by the Mexica and their neighbors. Their goal was not territory and not the destruction of the enemy, but the capture of prisoners who could be sacrificed to the gods. The wars were arranged in advance between two rival states, fought on agreed-upon dates and at agreed-upon places, and the most successful warrior was the one who captured the most prisoners.
The flower wars were closely tied to Mexica religion, and they were seen to providing the gods with the sacrifice they required. The Mexica staged them with a handful of long-standing rivals — most importantly the Tlaxcalans, the Huexotzincas, and the Cholulans — and the wars were a regular feature of Mexica military life. The flower wars were particularly important in the decades after the founding of the Triple Alliance, when the Mexica were consolidating their empire and were eager to obtain prisoners for the dedication of the new Templo Mayor.
The Spanish Conquest
The Spanish conquest of the Mexica state, which took place between 1519 and 1521, is one of the most thoroughly documented and most fiercely debated events in world history. The conquest was carried out by a small band of Spaniards, perhaps 600 in number at the height of the campaign, led by Hernán Cortés. The Spanish were able to defeat the Mexica state because of a combination of factors, including the superior military technology of the Spanish, the introduction of European diseases, the political divisions of the Mexica state, the strategic alliances that Cortés formed with the enemies of the Mexica, and the religious and political appeal of the Spanish to the subject peoples of the empire.
The conquest began in 1519, when Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with about 600 men, 16 horses, and a small number of cannons. He moved inland, formed alliances with the peoples hostile to the Mexica, most notably the Tlaxcalans, and made his way to Tenochtitlan, arriving in November 1519. The Spanish were received by Moctezuma II in a series of elaborate ceremonies, and the Spanish were housed in the palace of Axayacatl. The subsequent months were marked by a series of misunderstandings and outbreaks of violence, culminating in the Spanish seizure of Moctezuma and the massacre of Mexica nobles during the festival of Toxcatl in May 1520.
The Spanish were driven from Tenochtitlan on the night of June 30, 1520, an event known as La Noche Triste. The Spanish suffered heavy losses in the retreat, and most of the treasure they had accumulated was lost in the waters of Lake Texcoco. Cortés regrouped, built a small fleet of brigantines, and returned to the siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521. The siege lasted for several months and was marked by house-to-house fighting, starvation, and a devastating smallpox epidemic that killed much of the Mexica leadership. The last Mexica emperor, Cuauhtémoc, surrendered to the Spanish on August 13, 1521, marking the formal end of the Mexica state.
The Aftermath of Conquest
The fall of Tenochtitlan did not bring the Spanish conquest to an end, and there was widespread indigenous resistance to Spanish rule in the decades that followed. The most serious of the post-conquest revolts was the Mixton War of 1540-1542, a large-scale uprising of the peoples of the northern frontier that required the personal intervention of the Viceroy of New Spain. There were also numerous smaller revolts, including uprisings in Oaxaca, in the Huasteca, and in the Tarascan territory, and the Spanish were forced to maintain a large military presence in the Americas throughout the colonial period.
The Spanish conquest also brought with it a catastrophic demographic collapse. The indigenous population of central Mexico, which had been perhaps 25 million on the eve of the conquest, had fallen to perhaps 2 million by the mid-seventeenth century. The collapse was due to a combination of factors, including the introduction of European diseases, particularly smallpox, to which the indigenous population had no immunity, the disruption of the agricultural and economic systems, the brutalities of the Spanish conquest, and the harsh conditions of the colonial period. The demographic collapse was one of the great catastrophes of world history, and it fundamentally altered the social and cultural landscape of the Americas.
Indigenous Resistance and Survival
Despite the demographic collapse and the destruction of the Mexica state, indigenous resistance to Spanish rule continued throughout the colonial period. The resistance took many forms, from armed revolts to legal challenges in the Spanish courts, from the preservation of indigenous religious practices to the development of a written tradition in Nahuatl. The Spanish were never able to fully suppress indigenous culture, and the Mexican national identity that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries drew heavily on the indigenous past, including the Mexica heritage.
The articles linked throughout this overview, and gathered in this section of the encyclopedia, offer more detailed treatments of every aspect of Mexica warfare and the Spanish conquest, from the weapons and armor of the Mexica army to the Spanish campaign that ended the Mexica state, from the flower wars to the indigenous resistance that followed.
Related Articles
See also:
- Aztec Weapons, Armor, and Military Technology — the arms and equipment of the Mexica warrior
- The Flower Wars and Ritual Conflict — the ritualized warfare of the Mexica
- Military Ranks, Orders, and Eagle Warriors — the military hierarchy of the Mexica state
- The Spanish Conquest and Hernán Cortés — the events of 1519-1521
- Indigenous Resistance After the Fall of Tenochtitlan — the revolts and resistance that followed
- History of the Aztec Civilization — the historical context of Mexica warfare
- Aztec Empire and Political Structure — the political framework of the Mexica military