Expansion was the cornerstone of their whole civilization, because their religion requested that a large number of human sacrifices where to be made to the gods. To get the sacrifices the Aztec went to war with other tribes in Mexico to get these human sacrifices (Conrad & Demmest 47-49) . With each conquest more sacrifices and more land was added to the Aztec kingdom. The Aztec were a strong civilization who were familiar with organized large scale war, had specialized war chiefs, and a well organized system of territorial levy in which large armies could be amassed in a short time (Age of Reconnaissance 124-125). They may have been well organized for war, but they were not prepared for internal changes in there civilization.
Being as methodical as they were, having an organized leadership kept peace in the city states but didn’t keep peace throughout the other city-states. The rulers were power-hungry and wanted to conquer many city-states to create an empire which caused war. Also, these civilizations were very spiritual throughout their common day lives, but believed in some gods from the underworld that wanted blood through human sacrifice. This was a very violent way of worshiping their gods that they embraced it. Organized leadership existed in each civilization before the Europeans arrived.
War was seen as a religious duty and a way in which to pay tribute to the gods. The Aztec's believed that the god, Huitzilopochtli, needed human blood in order to keep the sun moving. The sun was the most important of all because it is "the source of all life" (McKay 276). Human sacrifice fueled everything behind what the Aztecs did. The Aztecs believed that the world would pretty much end if they did not sacrifice humans to the gods.
The Aztecs focused on sacrifice, and evil gods. There were only a few gods that were worshipped for their kindness, and bravery such as Quetzalcoatl. Other gods such as Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli were very different. They were worshipped for sacrifice and death, because they wanted to offer their hearts up to their gods. The Aztecs found people that they wanted to sacrifice and it started out that they sacrifice their own people, but once they found out that their own people would become extinct then they started finding other people and captured them.
In the Aztec religion numerous gods controlled an Aztec’s daily life. Some of these gods include: Uitzilpochtli (the sun god), Coyolxauhqui (the moon goddess), Tlaloc (the rain god), and Quetzalcoatl (the inventor of the calendar and writing). Another part of the Aztec religion was human sacrifices. For their sacrifices the priest would lay the man or woman over a convex (rounded) stone, then he would take a sharp knife and cut the victims heart out. They did this because they believed that good gods could prevent bad gods from doing evil things and they also believed that good gods got their strength from human blood and hearts so they had sacrifices in order to keep their gods strong.
But it was not mere thirst for blood that motivated the Aztecs to engage in this mass ritual sacrifice. Critical to understanding the motivation behind the ritual sacrifices is the concept of "tonalli," which means: "animating spirit." The tonalli in humans was believed to be located in the blood, which concentrates in the heart when one becomes frightened. This explains the gods' hunger for the heart. Without this sacrifice, all motion stops, even the movement of the sun.
Human sacrifice is one of the oldest practices of the Mesoamerican culture. The Aztecs, the last empire of the Mesoamericans, performed human sacrifices in their festivals as a means to show political power and to maintain the order of the universe. The Mexica Empire also considered war and sacrifice to be essential in the gaining of their vast territories. It is believed that hundreds, or even thousands, of victims were sacrificed each year at the Aztec religious sites. However, in addition to the religious ritual, sacrifices had the effect of intimidation for outside visitors/ enemies and the population in general.
Interestingly, many of the war captives, volunteers or slaves would not resist being the sacrificial victim. This was primarily because many considered a “flowery death” (death on the sacrificial altar) as the highest honor one could give and be given to the gods. They believed that those who were sacrificed on the sacrificial altar and those that died on the battlefield were the only ones worthy of ascending to heaven. The purpose of these Aztec sacrifice was to nourish and repay the gods for their sacrifice in creating the sun, world and humanity. They repaid the gods with the life force and soul of a person.
These sacrifices were performed by a specialized priest at the great temple, the Huey Teocalli, at the very top of the pyramid for all to witness. The heart was cut out while the victim was still alive. The still beating heart would then be burned in offering to the chosen god. Afterward, the body was thrown down the stairs of the pyramid where the head was then cut off and placed on a skull rack, known as a Tzompantli, displayed for all to see. (Ancient History
Human sacrifice was a religious practice characteristic of the Aztec civilization, and much of Mesoamerica. Spanish conquistadors, Hernan Cortes, made observations of and wrote reports about the practice of human sacrifice. These reports tended to be great exaggerations of what they saw, nor did they comprehend the significance of sacrifice among the Aztec culture. These tales were fabricated to convince the people of the world that the Aztecs were less than human. An array of reasons and interpretations of the Aztec practice of human sacrifice have been proposed by modern scientists.