The Importance Of Aztec Warfare

It has been said that “warfare was the center of Aztec life‘’. We know this is true because of all the artifacts that the Aztecs left behind. In fact ‘’every male Aztec was trained to be a soldier’’ from a very young age. The Aztec Military used weapons quite frequently and they were generally used throughout the entire life of the Aztec warrior. The weapons were so important to the Aztecs because they went to battle so often. They battled often to prove who the strongest city was in their region where they lived. It is because of how frequently they trained and how often they went to war that weapons were cherished by the Aztecs. The Aztecs were a very strong group of people who could show their dominance by ruling over other cities. Their …show more content…
“The Aztecs made only a few demands on the defeated city’’, the reason is they did not take everything from cities they conquered was because they didn’t want to take all of the city's supplies they just wanted enough to make sure the city wasn't able to overpower them. Also, ‘’Successful battles allows the Aztecs to increase their sources of tribute” When they won battles they covered more land and it increased their power. They also demanded ‘’obedience to the Aztec ruler ‘’ from the conquered people. The warfare and conquering of cities did exactly this, it showed respect to their ruler. Lastly “ An Aztec declaration of war followed a ritual pattern. First, the Aztecs asked a city to join the empire as an ally, the city had 60 days to agree. If the city’s ruler refused, the Aztecs declared war’’ This is what would happen if the Aztecs asked other cities to be apart of their empire and if the other city refused they would declare war. This is why, and how, the Aztecs went into warfare and needed many types of effective weapons.
The Aztecs had quite an arsenal of weapons to choose from. One of their deadly weapons was the bow and arrow. This weapon was very harmful. They had “Obsidian tipped arrows”. The reason that the Aztecs did this was because the obsidian was very thin and sharp and could cut through their enemy’s armor. Another is “Pierce and kill object” I chose this quote because it …show more content…
The atlatl was made to throw a spear farther and more accurate. This helped the Aztecs tremendously because they were able to throw a spear farther at their enemy without getting too close to them. This weapon was also useful because if they saw the enemy and they were running away you would hook up the spear to the atlatl and then throw it at the person running away. If you were experienced like the Aztec warrior then you would likely hit your target because of all of the practice they did when they were younger. They were comfortable with using the weapons owned by the Aztecs. This is why the Aztecs used the atlatl to fight in the battles they fought in. In addition to those who use striking weapons they also used defence weapons. One of the defensive weapons was the shield. The shield was such a useful resource, it protected the soldiers from the enemies weapons. The shield was one of the reasons so many Aztecs lived after they fought in battle. The shield, overall was a very well made tool that helped the Aztecs thrive and rule for a very long time. This is how and why they used the shields as defensive tools to save their lives when needed in