Original subtitles

Raised in a world of pain and bloodshed...

Their enemies: skinned alive, beheaded...

Hearts being ripped out.

Forged for fearless battle.

The Spaniards see the temples...

awash in blood.

They're terrified.

Trained for merciless assault.

This is what the gods demand.

The Aztec warrior...

defeats all.

Warriors aren't born...

they're built.

Understanding how reveals the

true nature of their greatness.

From the cradle to the grave,

these are the steps to creating...

History's Greatest Warriors.

The Aztec warrior...

fierce and committed to bloodshed,

for his ruler and the gods.

The Aztecs are one of the most sophisticated

civilizations in human history.

They have a military force,

which was extremely effective,

and which allowed them to build the greatest empire

that had ever existed in that part of the world.

The Aztecs flourished in about

the 13th to the 16th century,

and they were the last major empire

in Mesoamerica.

At its peak,

the Aztec Empire rules more than

5 million people

across 80,000 square miles...

from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

What makes the Aztecs such a tenacious and

frightening foe is...

their primary goal is capture.

They need to utilize those captures for sacrifices,

or other displays of their prowess to

feed the gods.

Their enemies: being skinned alive, beheaded.

Hearts being ripped out.

Pleasing the gods through the system of sacrifice

is necessary for the success and

lifespan of the Aztec empire.

Without captives, without sacrifice,

the gods will die.

If that doesn't sober you to the power,

the audacity,

and the mental fortitude of an Aztec, nothing will.

The journey to becoming an Aztec warrior

will require years of training,

marked by sweat...

and blood.

He must master the most brutal weapons of his day...

And learn to destroy his enemies through some of

the most terrifying tactics in history.

And his path to greatness begins

in what today is the United States.

The Aztecs believe that their ancestors came

from a place called Aztlan, which is thought to be

somewhere in the southwestern United States.

Sometime in the 13th century,

Aztecs trying to escape

starvation and drought,

move further south.

According to their mythical histories,

their god, Huitzilopochtli...

The God of War, is leading them towards

a sort of promised land.

They're looking for a sign

where they'll see an eagle devouring a snake.

So after many years of searching,

they find this sign in the sizable Lake Texcoco,

in the Valley of Mexico.

Around 1298,

the Valley of Mexico is quite a crowded place,

and there are settlements all around the outside.

Over time, they try to find a...

a place to build their new city.

They choose a location that

today is Mexico City.

They establish the capital city of Tenochtitlan

on this island in the middle of Lake Texcoco

around the year 1325.

They come up with the innovation of chinampas.

They're able to utilize these floating gardens

for growing crops that ultimately become the

building block for the formation of this

great Aztec society.

The Aztecs turn it into the greatest city that

has ever existed, arguably in all of the Americas.

And they cover that island with canals.

They build causeways in a way that also

allows them to defend their city.

Farming and war determine the rhythm

of Aztec existence.

Aztec society is based around

the demands of agriculture.

And so you don't go to war in the planting season.

You fight during the dry season.

The Aztecs are embroiled in

constant warfare, struggling to fend off

rival groups like the Tepanecs to the west,

and Huaxtecs to the east.

The Aztecs are subjected to the Tepanecs,

a large power in the region.

And in 1428, the Tepanecs have a civil war,

which puts their power in jeopardy.

And so the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan get together

with two other cities to form the Triple Alliance.

That alliance allows them

to become dominant in the region.

They essentially pool their resources together

to go out and conquer more people.

It is the moment when the Aztecs begin

rising to power in the Valley of Mexico.

They rewrite all their histories as led by the

God of War, where they will conquer territories

from sea to sea.

They need to make military activity a very

important part of their life,

because they are a people that live

on a rocky island in the middle of the lake.

How are they going to get access to food?

The answer is conquest.

The Aztecs use their alliance to defeat rivals

and build an empire.

This allows them to raise troops to

expand that empire even further.

When the ruler needs to amass an army,

he goes to allied cities or subject cities,

and demands their troops.

How big that Aztec army is-

By one of these accounts says 400,000.

Even if it's a quarter that size,

that's an enormous number of men.

An army brutal enough to crush all enemies,

needs a warrior wholly devoted to the Aztec empire...

And, the gods.

To ingrain this loyalty in their forces,

the Aztec warrior is shaped from the moment of birth.

In all the most successful militaristic

civilizations, training from birth...

is a must.

The Aztecs make sure that young men know

what their place is in Aztec society and culture.

And that is, as warriors.

And so, the babies are pricked to remind them that

they are going to bleed for their nation.

For boys, the umbilical cord is cut,

and carried by experienced warriors,

and buried on the battlefield.

Knowing that the fate of their god and the

empire is on their shoulders, the journey of the

Aztec warrior continues through childhood.

The process of building a warrior involves

hardening the body to pain in a way

so that that fear is gone.

It can be faced confidently in battle.

From a young age,

they restrict the access to food.

That is meant to encourage the ability to become

skilled hunters, to be resilient.

The children, when they get slightly older,

are expected to conform to the strict disciplines

of Aztec culture.

Parents use punishments like burning chillies

to make their eyes water,

or pricking them with cactus spines.

The purpose is to make sure that children stay in line,

that they are disciplined,

that they are self-disciplined.

The future warrior is first exposed

to physical competition.

Veteran warriors are bringing those children

at a young age to learn how to fight in combat.

If a child fares well,

their instruction to be a warrior will then continue.

The next step...

is exposure to ritual sacrifice.

All of society feels part of warriorhood,

and they do that through festivals which take place

on the temple.

There are many activities that take place

during the festivals that involve singing, dancing...

But there are also executions.

The most famous is the

Festival of the Flaying of Men.

Aztecs have a round, sacrificial stone,

and they tether a captive to the stone by their ankle,

and give them weakened weapons.

The Aztec warriors aren't actually trying to kill them,

they're trying to slice them, so that blood runs

from their cuts onto the sacrificial stone.

Eventually, the priests take him and

remove his heart to be given to the gods.

It is the Aztecs' duty to feed the gods,

who continue to keep life moving.

And the energy to do that comes from the blood

and hearts that are fed through human sacrifice,

in order to prevent the world coming to an end.

Ritual sacrifices help foster the

warrior mindset he will need for warfare.

They're no strangers to blood and guts.

Warriors learn at a young age that

this is what it means to be strong.

This is what the gods demand.

By his teens,

a future Aztec warrior is ready to begin

one of the most arduous military training

regimens in history.

Since childhood, the Aztec youth has been

exposed to combat and sacrifice.

Now it's time for him to formally train

to reach warrior status.

All young men-

whether they end up being priests,

or elite warriors, or farmers, or craftspeople-

everybody has to be trained and

prepared to go on campaign.

Sources indicate that their training

generally starts at age 15.

Some nobles could bring their kids in at age six.

There's warrior schools that offer

education in how to fight in combat.

You are learning how to fight,

how to develop strength, and...

the ability to strengthen both your body and your mind

to prepare you for the inevitability of going into war.

The young fighter needs to train his body to

move quickly among the enemy.

Aztecs don't have horses,

there are no beasts of burden.

They had to train to run very fast.

Aztec military forces had a need for speed.

The students are assigned to

an instructing priest, who then requires them

to very frequently run up all of the

113 steps of the Templo Mayor,

up and down repeatedly to build that endurance

in their legs and good cardio.

Young boys training to become warriors

will be involved in different games.

The Mesoamerican ball game is known as

ullamaliztli by the Aztecs.

It's incredibly central to their military life.

Much like battle itself,

the game is a bloody and brutal challenge,

involving speed, agility, and toughness.

It is a form of entertainment,

to bringing those young men's physical achievements

into a public space where people could watch them

and applaud it.

The ball is going hard and fast.

So people are often injured.

It's actually quite a good training ground

for young warriors.

But it's not just war games...

Recruits also learn other valuable skills.

They're engaging in mock battles with their schools.

Elite students, learning how to decode smoke signals,

listening for certain, you know, drum beats and trumpets.

Fires, music, banners,

and also mirrors were used to convey orders

on the battlefield, and they must have been drilled in

what all of those specific signals were.

Veteran warriors are bringing their students

onto the battlefield to get experience first-hand.

They're also showing them how to take captives.

And those young apprentices are also at the battlefield

to carry ammunition,

darts, and shields, and stones.

So they're navigating the chaos of the battlefield

and resupplying the warriors.

They need their students to test themselves.

If a young student can't handle the trauma of

seeing people screaming and dying,

and trying to kill each other,

he's not going to be able to survive

being in the Aztec army.

The apprentice also learns

key Aztec battle strategies...

Like deception.

The Aztecs' favorite battle strategy

is the feigned retreat.

An example of this is

with Moctezuma Ilhuicamina.

In 1454, he initiates a campaign

to conquer the Huaxtecs.

The Huaxtecs are an Indigenous group

from what are now the modern-day states of

Veracruz and San Luis Potosi.

They are seen as a particularly ripe

source of tribute for the Aztec emperors.

What the Huaxtecs don't realize is Moctezuma

has hidden a contingent of 2000 warriors,

who camouflage themselves in foxholes.

So, the smaller part of Moctezuma's force

makes it seem as if they're going to lose,

and they start to flee.

You can imagine the Huaxtecs' surprise and terror,

when in fact...

they're taken by complete surprise by this

contingent of 2000 warriors,

and are either taken captive or killed.

Once the young warrior becomes adept

on land, the many rivers and lakes of the region

demand that he become expert on water as well.

Aztecs are an incredibly sophisticated

waterborne fighting force, fighting in canoes and

fighting on the water.

Quite large canoes that could occupy

20 to 40 people in each boat.

We're not talking about the modern concept of a canoe.

These are larger boats that are capable of transporting

weapons, goods, equipment, as well as people.

So they master the craft of building canoes

quickly in a way strategically to

allow for troop movement.

They become expert swimmers.

They develop a knowledge of plant life and animal life

in swamps that allow them, ultimately,

to be more effective than their rivals.

The trainee will acquire amphibious tactics

that help the Aztecs overwhelm their enemies.

One of the most iconic instances in which

war boats are used by the Aztecs is in 1433.

A young commander is tasked with

besieging the town of Cuitlahuac.

He takes young warriors who are just

in training, and leads them against the city.

And this is an amphibious assault.

The entire dispute is about the right

to use the water and be in the water.

The city is protected by the lagoon.

The commander takes with him

a fleet of war boats.

He's confident that he can completely surround

the town by water...

and through barrages of projectile fire,

forces a surrender.

And his victory is so impressive that it

draws other cities into alliance with the Aztecs.

Molded from his first breath,

the successful Aztec trainee becomes a

cunning, confident warrior ready to do battle

alongside the empire's elite.

As best we know,

Aztec boys are fully educated,

and go out to fight as warriors

when they're about 20 years old.

The expectation is that you will go on to become

a great warrior to defend the empire

and expand its borders.

But before he can stand among the army's best,

But before he can stand among the army's best,

the young warrior must master

the empire's weapons of choice.

The warrior's success on the battlefield

is measured by the numbers of captives he takes.

And, he needs all the tools of war to do that.

The Aztecs have two weapons that they used

in order to project spears and stones.

A tematlatl is essentially a sling,

about five feet long,

with a pouch at the end of it.

Aztec children learn how to use this at a young age

in order to hunt small game.

It's swung in a circular motion over their heads,

and thrown

fairly great distances with large force.

Another key long-range weapon

in the Aztec's arsenal is a spear launcher,

which uses projectile dynamics to attack the

warrior's foe from an extraordinary distance.

An atlatl, it's a tool you hold in your hands,

and you place your spear or some other type of weapon

in it, and then you would launch it into the enemy.

Modern day tests reveal that a skilled

Aztec warrior could launch his spear at

an approaching enemy 800 feet away.

The physics of this weapon allow you to

throw the spear greater distances.

That atlatl spear, it's gonna knock you back

as well as penetrate into your skin.

But the weapon of choice for the Aztec warrior

in hand-to-hand combat...

is a terrifying one...

capable of inflicting gruesome damage...

The macuahuitl.

This weapon is intentionally used to...

incapacitate and capture people.

Nearly 3 feet long, this deadly war club

is edged with 1-inch shards of volcanic glass.

Aztecs do not have access to things like gunpowder.

They don't have access to advanced metallurgy.

What they have is wood, cotton...

and volcanic glass.

Obsidian volcanic glass

is one of the sharpest materials...

known to mankind.

At about 3 nanometers, an obsidian knife

is 10 to 20 times sharper than your average

household shaving razer.

Some records that we have,

written after the Spanish conquest,

tell us that the macuahuitl could be so sharp that it

could lop off someone's head with a single swing.

It does horrific things to human flesh,

and can cut through defensive

costumes and shields.

In all likelihood, most of the Spaniards who die in the

Spanish-Aztec War, die from infections from

wounds given to them by the macuahuitl.

The Aztec warrior uses the same glass

in his tecpatl, a 6-inch dagger,

to slice into bodies and to rip out hearts.

For defensive purposes,

Aztecs use a shield called a chimalli.

So, the more high ranking you are as a warrior,

the more elaborate your

costuming is going to be in battle,

including very expensive, feathered shields.

It might seem like these chimalli shields

aren't going to protect you.

But underneath the decoration...

is thick cotton padding,

reinforced by animal hide and wood.

These shields are in fact very effective at, say,

like stopping projectiles.

The chimalli shield is about 5 or 6 pounds,

so it's extremely well suited to quick

hand to hand combat.

A lot of times they're fighting in more

jungle style environments, so they have to be

very, very agile and mobile.

The Aztecs wear cotton armor that's been...

hardened by salt water or other types of liquids.

It's stiffened to prevent blows from

slashing weapons or, like, lancing blows.

It's lightweight.

It makes a warrior very agile.

This is, say, in direct contrast to the types of

armor that the Spaniards wear into battle.

Their armor's around 60 pounds.

In comparison, the Aztec armor is quite light, like,

8 pounds or so.

It's actually very tough, and it's sometimes called

the 'Mesoamerican Kevlar'.

When you have 60 pounds of armor, it slows him down.

And you're also dealing with the climate,

which can make him very hot.

You do not want to fight when you're dehydrated.

The Aztec warriors will exploit this contrast in

armor styles against a formidable new foe.

The Spanish have been exploring

the coast of Mexico.

They hear rumors of a rich city in the interior,

and so, they send an expedition that can

find this city and its riches.

In 1519, Spaniards arrive

in the Valley of Mexico.

Hernán Cortés reveals his intentions to the Aztecs

by attacking them in the middle of one of

their sacred festivals.

This is the night of the 30th of June 1520.

This event is known as Noche Triste.

Sad Night.

The alarm is raised,

and the Aztecs raise the bridges in the causeways,

making it harder for the Spanish to escape

across the lake.

The Aztecs have built their capital

to outwit invading forces.

There's a lot of canals everywhere.

There's dead ends.

This is not typical of what the Spanish would see.

What happens is that, upon fleeing,

the Spanish conquistadors fall into...

a lot of these canals and waterways.

Spanish armor has no, like, quick release.

There's no zipper!

You can't easily take this armor off.

Once you're weighed down, you're weighed down.

Many of the Spaniards,

as a result of the sheer weight of the plate armor,

end up drowning.

Two thirds of the Spaniards are killed.

Cortés estimated 2000 people died.

Some Spanish forces are

taken as captives and sacrificed.

They are decapitated...

and their skulls are placed onto a skull rack,

right next to the Templo Mayor.

Battles like Noche Triste

reveal how the Aztec army

takes advantage of their natural defenses.

But for the individual warrior,

true glory comes through capturing captives

in hand-to-hand combat.

The young Aztec has trained for years,

and seen blood spilled on the battlefield and on the altar.

Now, it is his time to test himself.

When it comes to combat,

the Aztecs really embody this

relentless desire to do whatever it takes

to defeat their opponent,

and ensure the longevity of their empire.

As the Aztec Empire expands in the north,

it comes into conflict with some fairly powerful...

city states.

What that results in is,

a series of campaigns by the Aztecs,

with hand-to-hand combat.

The Aztec's training not only teaches

them how to fight, but where to strike from.

You want to stake your claim to the high ground

if you can, so that you're running downhill...

and accompanied by a lot of terrifying noise.

The Aztec warrior presses forward

as he's been trained to do, wielding his most

dangerous weapon, the macuahuitl.

The idea is to end the combat

as quickly as possible, and procure captives.

So you need to be fast, you need to be quick.

They're looking to hit someone's wrist,

or elbow, or their knees, or their ankles.

Areas where those obsidian shards are long enough to

really prevent their enemy from holding their weapons,

holding their shields...

ah, being able to run away.

The glory the Aztec warrior seeks requires

something far riskier than a kill...

He attempts a capture.

The Aztecs can choose to use the flatter part of

the club, and just knock them out.

Or they can use the obsidian part, which is very sharp.

What they're trying to do is cut the legs of

their opponent, so that they'll fall and

can be dragged off the battlefield and

taken as captives for sacrifice.

When captives are taken,

usually their hands, possibly their feet are bound.

Some sources indicate that they are restrained by the

neck with some kind of wooden device.

Or, they may be then forced into cages to be

escorted and brought back forcibly to Tenochtitlan.

The Aztec will now feed his prisoner's blood

to the God of War...

taking a step closer to earning renown

as an elite warrior.

Not all captives are equal in the minds of the Aztecs.

You want to capture the best warrior,

because this not only will

harm your enemy's army,

it also increases your status as a warrior.

I am going to be promoted, whether it be priest or

warrior, by how many captives I take.

Now, once you have acquired four captives,

you can ascend the ranks and become potentially

a jaguar or eagle warrior.

They are the same rank.

Eagle warriors would wear clothing covered

in feathers, and eagle heads.

Jaguar warriors wear jaguar skins,

and also have helmets fashioned like a jaguar head.

And that's all part of terrifying the enemy

through past acts of glory...

killing and taking prisoners on the battlefield.

If you're an enemy warrior, and you see coming at you

an eagle warrior or a jaguar warrior,

that should instill fear in you.

Creating fear among enemies is perhaps the

most terrifying of all Aztec weapons...

One they are all too willing to wield.

Fear... Pain...

Death...

The Aztec warrior must master them all to serve his rulers,

including one whose legend endures.

Moctezuma II becomes emperor in 1502.

He then seeks to expand the empire.

But, some subject city states also seek to

test his authority.

He discovers that some Mixtec towns in

southern Mexico, in what is today the state of Oaxaca,

are rebelling. They are not paying their tribute.

Tribute is a collection of goods

that are sent to Tenochtitlan.

These could be food goods...

Crops.

Textiles, featherworks, precious stones.

Things that display the power

of Aztec emperors.

Moctezuma is then faced with a problem.

How is he going to bring them back into the fold?

Moctezuma decides to take action against the

Mixtec people, some 300 miles away.

Moctezuma has sent 100 emissaries to get sand

that is needed, this special sand for jewel working.

People in Tututepec will show Moctezuma that

they will not subjugate to him in any way.

They're not giving him anything,

and they determine in the end that

they will murder the emissaries.

At some point, the Aztec emperor

sends spies to infiltrate and confirm the news.

And they find the bodies of the emissaries

on the road.

Moctezuma is enraged, of course,

and determines to go to war.

Such flagrant dissent is met with brutal force,

as the Aztec goes to war to preserve his empire.

The people of Tututepec are quite terrified

actually of what might happen,

and they build five walls of stone and brick

outside their city.

Moctezuma sends,

from Tenochtitlan and allied cities,

perhaps as many as 400,000 warriors

against Tututepec.

They march some 300 miles...

And when they arrive there, they find that the city is

defended by these walls and by a great river.

Using their expertise in amphibious warfare,

the Aztecs build boats which they use

to cross the river.

The Aztecs began by trying to

intimidate the defenders.

For example, the use of drums and music.

Flashing them, laughing at them.

Yelling out the ways in which

they were going to humiliate them,

and brutalize them and their families

once they got inside the city.

This happens at night, so the people of Tututepec

don't realize what's happening,

and by the time that they recognize the threat,

the Aztecs have already breached the walls.

They completely raid the town,

and they burn the royal houses.

When the Aztecs attack a city with the intention to

subjugate it and collect tribute,

they will allow the residents to remain safe

if they peacefully surrender and agree to the

terms of tribute collecting.

If the town does not surrender,

the Aztec warriors are then allowed to go in and

raid the city after combat's done,

much like the Vikings would, and collect loot.

They massacre most of the people of the city.

Some sources say they kill everyone over the

age of nine, and take hundreds of captives

with them back to Tenochtitlan.

Something took place there that is

remembered generation after generation.

To cause that much bloodshed,

slaughter and captive taking...

people will still remember: This is what happens if you

rebel against the might of the Aztec Empire.

After the enemy's fall,

the warrior's victory is only complete when he can

feed the God of War, with human sacrifice.

Large numbers of the people of Tututepec

are taken as sacrificial victims.

The captive is fed,

is treated in an honored way,

and it's a way of entangling the honor of the two men.

Then, on the day of sacrifice,

the Aztec takes his captive to the temple,

accompanies him to his death, and he is sacrificed

at the summit of the pyramid.

The ritual sacrifice is a

slow and bloody process,

and it starts with the captive's heart.

The reason for extracting a captive's heart is,

of course, to make an offering to the gods.

The heart contains one of three souls, the Teyolia.

And the Teyolia is essentially divine fire.

And so, it's offered to the gods as this

extremely precious substance

that contains a portion of your soul.

And so, it is, again, to repay the gods

for putting the world into motion,

for keeping the world from chaos.

The body is cut up.

The skull goes to be on the skull rack,

and the rest is taken home by the warrior,

where it will be cooked and ceremonially cannibalized.

It's extremely horrible.

But at the same time,

it carries really deep spiritual meaning.

It's not only to honor Huitzilopochtli,

the war god, but it's also a pretty good intimidation

tactic for anyone who is brought into the city and

forced to watch this.

It's about demonstrating how much

divine power you are able to deploy.

If we can sacrifice this many people,

how powerful must our gods be?

But the Aztec Empire's dominion

can't last forever.

Soon, its warriors will confront an enemy

more daunting than any he has ever faced.

The Aztec Empire creates the most powerful

warriors Mesoamerica has ever known.

Driven by divine purpose,

it rules for 200 years.

But then, in 1519...

A new threat appears.

The Spanish arrive at modern day Veracruz,

led by Hernán Cortés.

At first, the Aztecs are hearing,

from their massive empire, some whispers of

these men in iron, horses...

things that make massive explosions.

Who wouldn't be curious?

They're seeing armor for the first time.

Guns, for the first time.

You can imagine from the perspective of the Spaniards,

they see the temples...

awash in blood.

They're terrified.

The Spanish know that the Aztecs

are fearsome warriors.

They can only be defeated by using

other Mesoamerican warriors.

Cortés is then enabled to gain

tens of thousands of men

as he's proceeding to Tenochtitlan.

Moctezuma invites the Spanish into the city,

and hosts them.

Many sources suggest that Moctezuma and Cortés

actually develop quite a close relationship.

Cortés is going to see them as the key empire

to conquer, because of their wealth,

because of their prestige, because of their standing.

After the Spanish defeat during the

June 1520 Noche Triste,

Spain regroups.

10 months later,

its conquistadors strike back and invade.

And this time, obsidian weapons are

no match for Spanish steel.

Cortés has...

an abundance of resources to construct brigantines

that are used to blockade the city,

and then prevent the Aztecs from receiving

fresh water and food, or even from

reaching out for help from any of their allies.

People are eating bark and leather

in order to try and survive.

The Aztecs must also fight something else

the enemy brings to the battlefield:

disease.

Fortune favors the Spanish,

because smallpox is a disease that the Aztecs

have no immunity against.

And It's utterly crippling the population.

It's preventing them from being able to fight back.

The Spaniards are ultimately able to vanquish the Aztecs

in 93 days.

This cataclysmic clash of cultures ultimately

results in the upset of this great Aztec Empire.

After defeating the Aztecs,

Spain grabs a vast swath of territory

known as New Spain.

Mexico City becomes far larger

than it had under the Aztecs.

Even under Spanish rule,

the Aztecs' warrior culture casts a shadow,

one that will stretch across the centuries.

Eventually people in New Spain will look to

the Aztecs as their ancient past, like certain

European peoples do with the ancient Romans.

Sacrifice has often dominated

the legacy of the Aztecs.

But for the Aztecs, that was a necessity,

in order to prevent the world ending.

And they built the most astonishing, organized

military power base in order to serve

that cosmological need.

The fact that the Aztecs turned a rocky,

cactus-strewn island

into the capital of a huge empire,

tells us something about their...

perseverance, their ability to organize themselves.

And it's one of the reasons why we are still

talking about the Aztecs today.

And ultimately, what we celebrate

in Aztec culture is kind of heroic tradition.

We see it in Latin Afro hip hop.

We see it in professional wrestling.

We see it in the Mexican flag,

this kind of celebration of the symbols of Aztec culture,

particularly this warrior culture, which says:

"We are strong, we are resilient.

We can't be beat."

Their ethos, extraordinary courage,

discipline and bold innovations...

earn the mighty Aztecs their rightful place among...

History's Greatest Warriors.