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Though the people of Teotihuacan established the first truly sophisticated military organization and technology in Mesoamerica, many of their general patterns derived from the Olmecs (1200400 B.C.). Although there is little persuasive evidence of an empire or other widespread political integration,
2 the Olmecs oversaw the emergence of elites and a class-based society; the development of increasingly sophisticated political systems; new and more complex religions, writing, astronomy, numerical systems, and calendars; and the growth of urbanization and interregional exchange. |
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It is easy to place the Aztecs in the general sequence of Mesoamerican cultural development, but assessing precisely what occurred in Aztec society and why is more difficult. This difficulty arises both from the information available and from the theories employed by writers to interpret them. |
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The information available to us was recorded long after the events in question and consists of generalized accounts that do not deal adequately with specific sequences of events. Frequently these accounts were attempts to place Aztec behavior in a favorable light from the European perspective, often comparing Aztec actions to those of peoples of the classical or biblical worlds. Thus general discussions of Aztec concepts of war all too often present a sanitized view of wars and their causes in Aztec society. Some sixteenth-century writers even went so far as to claim that the Aztecs had never waged unprovoked war.3 Three different but interwoven perspectives on Aztec war arise from emphasizing, or drawing on, (1) the idealized views presented by many of the chroniclers; (2) the religious aspects of Aztec warfare, on which many modern writers have focused; and (3) the descriptions of the xochiyaoyotl, or "flower war." |
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The first approachthe idealized viewis based on one Aztec rationalization for war, which was often belied by actual practice. In this view the entire sequence of warmaking eventsinitial provocation, intelligence gathering, decision making, negotiations, and combathad a standardized format. A just war could be waged |
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