The Rise & Fall of the Aztec Empire

Clendinnen makes clear that the Aztec Empire's origins did indeed reflect the origins of many other cultures. The particularly unique feature of the Aztecs, in Clendinnen's view, was the special emphasis on the military and the accompanying courage of its warriors. She quotes an Aztec song-poem: "Proud of itself/ is the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan./ Here no one fears to die in war./ This is our glory. . . . / Who could conquer Tenochtitlan?/ Who could shake the foundation of heaven?" (Clendinnen 44). In reference to this excerpt, the author writes in her opening words that "Today we are tempted to read this fragment on an Aztec song-poem as a familiar piece of bombast: the aggressive military empire which insists on its invincibility, its warriors strangers to fear" (Clendinnen 44).

Every major empire in the history of the human race has put an emphasis on the military aspect of its civilization. An empire is marked by conquest and expansion, and the objec

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a and the Nazis: At fifteen the lads began extensive training in weapon-handling, gathering every evening in the warrior house with the mature warriors---local heroes---to learn the chants and dances which celebrated warriors past and the eternal excitements of war. . . . War provided the crucial and indeed the sole consequential test. . . . Any male who failed to go to war, even if he were the king's son, would be deprived of all signs of rank and would live as a despised commoner, while great warriors would eat from the king's dish (Clendinnen 49-50). The social pressures on the people to adhere to the strict standards of the Aztec Empire parallel the pressures on the Germans of the Nazi era, the Spartans, and other military-oriented cultures. The infamous "mass killings" were a powerful force in convincing dissidents to conform. In addition, such public spectacles (recalling the Soviet May Day parades of military might and the Nazi propaganda rallies and then the lightning victories over neighboring countries) were used to intimidate other groups: For those within the city, some of them "Aztec" only by adoption, others made restless by the intrusive demands of the state, those great ceremonial performances with their mass k
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Approximate Word count = 2539
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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