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cant conquest of this campaign was Tlaximaloyan, which lay on the probable route of march and was doubtless conquered on the way in.
49 By all accounts the Aztecs were soundly defeated, which was unusual, but so, too, was the Tarascan failure to follow up on the victory.50 The explanation of both these anomalies lies in the logistical situation. |
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Like the Aztec Empire, the Tarascan was based on a system of alliances that depended on the perception of power. The area into which the Aztecs marched, though part of the Tarascan Empire, was not part of its political core; it was an area primarily composed of ethnic Matlatzincas, whose loyalty to the Tarascans was largely pragmatic. The Aztecs were probably seeking a tactical victory over the Tarascan army, since a significant defeat could have undermined the perception of Tarascan power and precipitated a shift of alliances by non-Tarascan towns in the region. |
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One possible reason for the Aztecs' defeat was that they were permitted to enter beyond their secure lines of supply or communication. Thus, the Aztecs could not readily acquire additional goods, men, or arms, and with no means of resupply their arrows would have been exhausted rapidly, in contrast to the Tarascans'. This would not only have exposed them to unanswered arrow fire but also have meant the loss of covering fire for withdrawing and replacing their troops in combat. The Tarascans could easily have brought in fresh troops. The inevitable outcome was an extremely heavy casualty rate among the Aztecs.51 But the Tarascans' failure to follow up on their decisive victory probably reflects both the Aztec success in securing the areas between the rival empires and the Tarascans' logistical inability to dispatch and supply troops at great distances. The Aztecs' defeat was unequivocal, but its effects were contained. |
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Other wars followed this defeat, because the empire required shoring up through military exploits, a need made all the more acute by the defeat the Aztecs had suffered and by their enormous loss of experienced soldiers. Thus, a year after the Tarascan campaign (campaign season 148081?), the decision was made to complete the cuauhxicalli (eagle vessel, to hold human hearts taken from sacrifices) of the temple of Huitzilopochtli in Tenochtitlan, which required war captives for sacrifice. Although religious demands for sacrificial captives are often cited as reasons that Mesoamerican wars were fought, irregularly occurring religious events, such as the construction or dedication of a temple, were chosen by the leaders as |
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