|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Aztecs next fought their only other war with the Tarascans. The Aztec army went west, beyond the valley of Tolocan, to the fortified border of the Tarascan Empire, where the armies of the two empires met and fought, with many deaths on both sides. Although the Aztecs failed to capture the battle site, they succeeded in taking many captives and booty.
68 This was the Aztecs' first direct confrontation with the Tarascans since Axayacatl's defeat, and it was an extension of Ahuitzotl's strategic encirclement of Michhuacan. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The next significant event was not an Aztec war or conquest but the upheaval that followed the death of Nezahualpilli, king of Tetzcoco.69 When he died in 1515, Nezahualpilli left several legitimate sons, all potential heirs, but none had been designated the king's successor. The eldest son, Tetlahuehhuetzquitih, was not capable of ruling: two others, Coanacoch and Ixtlilxochitl, both had the ability but favored their older brother. Taking advantage of this succession crisis to promote Aztec interests, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl opposed the likely choices and instructed the electors to select another of Nezahualpilli's sons (and Moteuczomah Xocoyotl's nephew), Cacama, to be king. The electors were the lords of the Acolhua towns and of Tenochtitlan,70 and opinions were divided over who should be Nezahualpilli's successor. Coanacoch sided with Moteuczomah Xocoyotl's faction, but Ixtlilxochitl opposed Cacama and fled to the mountains of Metztitlan, where he received support. Returning with an army, Ixtlilxochitl conquered many Acolhua towns; established fortifications at Papalotlan, Acolman, Chiucnauhtlan, Tecacman, Tzompanco, and Huehuetocan, and fought both Moteuczomah Xocoyotl and his own brothers, Cacama and Coanacoch. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Aztecs manipulated succession elsewhere in the empire, but in the case of Tetzcoco they were unsuccessful, and civil war followed. Tetzcoco controlled a large political area from which it could draw support but which it also had to appease, so an unacceptable heir in Tetzcoco could cause a breakup of the alliance. Since the Aztecs needed Tetzcoco's support, a persistent effort by Moteuczomah Xocoyotl to impose his own choice of successor could have alienated the Acolhua cities and, by weakening the Triple Alliance, have undermined the Aztec position throughout the empire. To avoid overt Tetzcoca hostility, Moteuczomah Xocoyotl agreed to a peace between the contending parties in which Cacama was recognized as ruler, but only of those cities not held by Ixtlilxochitl.71 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Around 1515 a real war began when the 100,000-man Aztec army |
|
|
|
|
|