The story of the Aztec Empire has inspired historical minds and captivated imaginations for hundreds of years. I recently released a video podcast on the rise and fall of the Aztec, which you can watch right here. What follows are some measured lessons and takeaways from this incredible story.
You don’t know what the next crisis is going to be.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, or even science fiction. In early 1519, the Aztec Empire was at the peak of its powers. It controlled vast swaths of territory, and millions of people. It had complex systems of bureaucracy, military organization, and religious structures connected to it’s governance by an emperor and elites. Two years later, all of that was gone. Who could have predicted what must have seemed like literal aliens to the Mexica people (the people we mean when we say “Aztec”) would literally just appear on the horizon-with strange new weapons and armor, a foreign religion, and tactics and logistics that the Mexica had never seen before? Just like that, the most powerful empire in an entire hemisphere can dissolve. In modern times, just like in history, there are always embers burning under the surface of our society. Sometimes all it takes is one unexpected event to light an uncontrollable fire. The Spanish were able to light some of these historical embers in relation to Aztec tribute systems and their treatment of surrounding city-states.
Modern elites and politicians will exploit similar embers. Historian Patrick Wyman, an expert on the fall of the Roman Empire says, “An underrated aspect of pandemics is what a strange, unexpected effect they have on the broad social and cultural vibes for decades afterward. The pathogen itself continues to flare up. Mass death, generational wealth transfers, labor shocks, unaddressed trauma: it’s a wild stew of ingredients. You can never be quite sure how the fact of a mortality event-its demographic effect-will interact with the whole constellation of other things happening in a society.”
How you treat people matters.
If embers are burning under the surface of society at all times, then an empire should be especially careful during times of crisis and regression-when dry conditions make it easier for ignition. It seems obvious, but no matter how secure the elites in a society may feel, the more people (even the lowest classes in a society) you alienate, the greater chance of disaster. Much is made of the slavery and human sacrifice the Aztec Empire subjected conquered peoples too. This certainly did not endear them to many of the peoples and city-states in the Valley of Mexico. But negative feelings towards the Aztec had more to it than just slavery and human sacrifice. Tribute systems for many city states were onerous, robbing the people of their wealth and food. Many people and city-states felt alienated in the Aztec political system. This would come back to bite them when the Spanish arrived and offered an alternative. And perhaps most interestingly, the Spanish did not learn this lesson well-repeating many of the same mistakes the Aztec made while enforcing their colonial rule. But those embers wouldn’t erupt on a large scale until the revolutions of the 1800’s.
The alternative is not always better.
Once the Spanish and Aztec Empires were officially at war, the outcome in the moment did not seem as obvious as it does in historical hindsight. People in the Valley of Mexico had to make difficult choices and weigh alternatives as far which side to support, whether or not to support either side, or try to find some other way out of the situation. For most, they were faced with two bad choices. Despite the brutality of the Aztec Empire, many who sided with the Spanish would later regret it.
Controlling the narrative is essential.
In the histories of the Spanish conquest, much is made of the Spanish tools of destruction: guns, germs, steel, and horses. But less is made of the long term tools that allowed the Spanish to control the levers of history-pen and paper. Right from the beginning of the conquest, the Spanish were writing down their interpretation of events. Letters back to Spain, personal diaries, ledgers, communications to each other, etc. These justifications and interpretations of events would color our understanding of history for centuries. Interpretations and viewpoints of the Aztec as superstitious savages have lived on in the hearts and minds of the popular conscience for centuries as a result of pen and paper. By using historical narratives to further their own ends, the Spanish “won” not just the conquest, but the historical narrative and interpretation of that conquest in the minds of many for hundreds of years. Mexican independence movements in the 1800’s and 1900’s would eventually challenge these narratives and seek to replace them with different versions that would define the modern era of Mexican history. Historical narratives are more than just abstract stories, they are powerful tools of control and themselves one of the many embers burning under the surface of society.…The competition to leverage historical narratives in a persuasive way remains a key component to understanding our current deteriorating political landscape.
“Nothing’s over while I’m breathing.”
A cheesy line from James Cameron’s Avatar that has become a running joke with my friends and I, but one I think about a lot. An empire ends, and people pass on, but a legacy lives. History is told and remembered in decades, centuries, and millennia. None of that helps the suffering of people living in the now, but don’t be quick to bury a narrative or a historical legacy. The story of the rise and fall of the Aztec Empire and it’s Mexica people continues to be uncovered, told, and retold. Who knows what effect that story will have? There’s always embers under the surface.
Have you read any Jared Diamond? Titles like Collapse & Guns, Germs and Steel…