How War Has Changed The World

The Aztecs should also be remembered for their strong army and expert tactics. Aztec warriors were some of the most “fierce fighters” in Mesoamerica, conquering almost all of southern Mexico in a span of about 100 years (Doc. 1). This extraordinary success came from not only the Aztecs’ expert fighting skills, but the fear they instilled within their enemy. As previously stated, the Aztecs are most known for their human sacrifices; most of which were captured enemies. In The History of the Indies of New Spain, Friar Diego Duran describes a sacrificial ritual he witnessed where 2,300 prisoners from Teuclepec were killed in the name of the Aztec religion (Doc. 6). However, some historians believe that these sacrifices were not performed for

Religion played a very important role in the Aztec and Inca culture. Religious rituals consisted of human sacrifice and polytheism. Their deities were inspired by nature and the earth’s physical makeup. Both appear to be similar but peel back the onion and notable differences reveal themselves. It is difficult for modern day society to understand how human sacrifice can exist in such advanced civilizations.

The Aztecs were a ancient civilization who ruled an empire in the region of mesoamerica between 1325 A.D and 1521 . From their capital city of tenochtitlan, presently the site of modern - day Mexico City, the Aztecs had many achievements. Two things they were most know for is Agriculture and Human sacrifice, which was very unique. However, historians should emphasize the role of Human Sacrifice in Aztec culture."

The Xochiyaoyotl, or “War of Flowers” were ritual battles that were typically fought between warriors of the Aztec triple alliance and warrior from the eastern Tlaxxalan-Pueblan valley (Carrasco 2014:67). They were fought during the 15th and early 16th centuries with the purpose of gaining captives for sacrificial rituals as well as maintaining political balance between the kingdoms. Such battles were spiritually significant to the Aztecs, as making war successfully was seen as a key part of repaying the debt owed to the gods for providing the Aztecs with life. As such, dying on the battlefield was considered something to take pride in. and sacrificing captives was thought to be an integral part of gift exchange between humans and the gods

The history of firearms has changed dramatically since the late 1700’s. A rifle is no longer defined as a single shot, muzzle loading musket. Should

As historians overview the history of the Aztecs they need to make sure to emphasize the importance of the human sacrifices that we completed by the Aztecs daily. This feature of the Aztecs is more notable because they deliberately didn’t occupy land for later sacrifices, it was the reason for many’s death, and they were willing to sacrifice warriors. It therefore must then be clear that the human sacrifices of the Aztecs must be emphasized more than the agriculture of the

     Weapons have been around from the Neanderthals of the post-ice age, to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Rocks became knives, sticks became spears, and bayonets became AK-47’s. The technology from the French and Indian War was revolutionized and manufactured by the newly opened weaponry companies. Colt

Have you ever wondered what is more important? Human Sacrifice or Aztec agriculture. The Aztecs lived in a mexican society. The Aztecs Arrived in mexico in the 1200 C.E. There was also 300,00 people. We should stress human sacrifice because it was a belief that the aztecs had. We should emphasize human sacrifice for three reasons huge scale, spiritual connection motive war and expansion. And three

Through the reading of Temples and Ceremonies we are informed that all people engage in sacrifice. In fact “All people engaged in auto sacrifice at some point in their lives, usually to petition the gods for agricultural or human fertility” (MAI Reader, 77). This connects to the theme in the myth of people committing acts of sacrifice in order to fill obligations for their well being we can deduce that since “all people engaged in...sacrifice”(MAI, 77) that people within the Aztec society viewed sacrifice as a duty and the norm . Carassaco’s text elaborates on the concept of the reasoning and act of sacrifice. “Ancestors carrying out sky watching, prayer, ceremonies, and ritual sacrifices to their gods. (Carrasco, 26)” This imposes that the Aztecs sacrifices were solely for their gods and their benefit. When the Spanish came to conquer the Aztecs they too realized the sacrifice occurring within the society. Bernal de Castillo one of Hernan Cortez’s men recorded in a journal his personal experience with asking about sacrifice. “Then Diaz del Castillo added a provocative and enigmatic passage about human sacrifice and cannibalism in relation to the feast” (Carrasco, 6). This shows that people (even outsiders) were well aware of the significance of sacrifice within the Aztec society. We also see record from another first hand account of the Aztecs and their relationship to sacrifice. Bernardino de Sahagun writings states that “the Aztecs carried out human sacrifice within a large, more complex ceremonial system in which a tremendous amount of energy, wealth and time was spent” (Carrasco, 63). This shows how crucial sacrifice was within the Aztec

The Aztecs and Incas possessed different ideological and intellectual values or developments throughout their powers. For instance, an image of the Aztecs shows their practice of human sacrifice through a ceremony and the building of large temples to honor the gods (Fefferman, “Human Sacrifice Mendoza”). Ideology was a major interest of the Aztecs for they sacrificed themselves for their many deities and cared more about them, unlike the Incas who did not practice sacrifice for their gods. Aztec

     Mexica rulers flooded their lands with propaganda that promoted their imperialistic religion. Most of the Aztec’s art and literature was made up of this propaganda, which created this religious fervor among the people that grew beyond the control of the ruling elites. “Oral literature, monumental art, written codices, and public and private ceremonies instilled and continually reinforced belief in the divine struggle and the unceasing need for sacrificial victims” (Conrad, 51). Furthermore, religious zeal was strengthened by the guarantee that immortality would be granted to warriors who died in the divine quest and increased social standing awaited those who faired well in wars (Conrad, 52).

The long range infantry weapon of the 1700’s was the musket. The musket is stronger than the bow and arrow. The kinetic energy and momentum of an 18mm musket ball shooting from a Brown Bess musket are 1460 joules and 9.36 kg*m/s. The kinetic energy and momentum of an arrow being shot from a bow are 16.5 joules and 1.15 kg*m/s. The musket ball clearly has a much stronger momentum and kinetic energy than the arrow, which means it has more stopping power. Firearms of the 1700’s also have much greater maximum range than bows and arrows. If a Brown Bess was fired at a forty five degree angle in a frictionless environment, the musket ball would travel 9783 meters. If a bow fired it’s arrow at forty-five degrees in a frictionless environment, it would travel only one hundred and nineteen meters. The musket has more than eighty-two times the maximum range of the bow and arrow. Some might say that bows and arrows are stronger than muskets, but that is not entirely true. Most people refer to muskets and rifles of the eighteen and nineteenth century only as smooth-bore barrel muskets. Muskets barrels later became rifled in the nineteenth century and are much more accurate than their smooth-bore relatives. Not only are muskets more lethal than bows and arrows, but cannons and artillery are more lethal than medieval catapults.

The religion of the Aztecs was made up of mainly three gods: Huitzilopochtli, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. Below these three main gods were four creating gods. Below these four gods were many other gods, however the most important were Tlaloc, the rain god, Chalchihuitlicue, the god of growth and Xipe, the god of spring. The main thing that captures the attention of Aztec religion is their human sacrifice made to the different gods. Although human sacrifice was practiced around Mesoamerica, the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice in a large scale never seen before to date. The idea of human sacrifice was that Gods gave things to humans like food, rain, wealth, and other goods only if they were given human beings in return. The Aztecs believed that the goods liked best the living hearths of sacrificed captives. If the captive was a well skilled soldier and very brave then the Gods would return better goods to his people. This idea lead to wars were the Aztecs fought with other indians and capture their bravest men for sacrifice. As we can imagine,

War has been going on just about as long as people have been alive. Whether it is just some cavemen fighting over a fire, or multiple countries going to war for justice, there has always been some scale of war. I am going to be analyzing way through functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives.

The history of weapons started centuries ago when cave people initially developed a weapon called a bow and arrow, for hunting purposes. They created this weapon from yew or elm for the bow and the arrow’s shaft, and used animal ligaments, or sinew to add tension to the bow. Archeologists have also found arrow heads made of sharp rocks and angled bones from different types of animals. These artifacts are all over the world displayed beautifully in museums to make new civilization realize the important role weapons have played in daily life.