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essary in a prolonged battle, as fighting did not generally continue at night.
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As noted earlier, the Aztecs also left two generals in Tenochtitlan for the purpose of strategic reinforcement.67 Additional troops dispatched from Tenochtitlan were largely of use in relatively nearby battles, such as against Xaltocan or Xochimilco.68 But reinforcements were also sent directly from Tenochtitlan to distant campaigns of extended duration, in one case after twenty days of combat.69 |
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Some wars were quite long, but these were either flower wars or battles against cities that were sufficiently close that troops could be easily resupplied and reinforced.70 Most battles to conquer a single city lasted for relatively short periods.71 The length of wars depended on such factors as distance to the objectives, logistical difficulties, and differential strength. But the intensity of interest in conquering the objective was also a factor. |
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If the defending army failed to acknowledge defeat and withdrew to the city or if the attackers flanked the defenders, the battle was carried to the city itself. The initial objective, however, was to induce the city to submit, not to destroy it. Thus, except in raids by non-Aztecs,72 burning was largely restricted to temples and their associated buildings.73 Firing a town's main temple was the ultimate sign of victory74 and was a devastating blow, for several reasons. The temples were usually the most heavily fortified sites within the city, and burning them meant that the enemy had succeeded in penetrating and overcoming the strongest resistance. More pragmatically, the temple precincts also contained the city's armories. Thus, burning them deprived the embattled army of additional arms and war supplies, so the act was devastating even when it was accomplished by stealth or deception.75 Burning the temples also signified that the local gods had been overcome, although their images were not necessarily destroyed. The Aztecs often removed them, along with their priests,76 to Tenochtitlan, where the gods were housed in the coateocalli temple in the main plaza.77 |
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Burning a city to accomplish its defeat was not common. But depending on the town's willingness to negotiate, the city might be burned if it did not surrender once its main temple had been fired.78When the Aztecs defeated Coaixtlahuacan, for example, the people |
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