Editing Moctezuma II (section)

==War with Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo and their allies==
Though the first conflicts between Mexico and Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo, and their allies began during the rule of [[Moctezuma I]] in the 1450s, it was during the reign of Moctezuma II that major conflicts broke through.

===Battle of Atlixco===
{{infobox military conflict
|conflict=Battle of Atlixco
|partof=the [[flower war]]s
|image=La derrota en la batalla de Atlixco contra los Huejotzingas, en el folio 168v.png
|image_size=300px
|caption=The defeat suffered at the battle of Atlixco against Huejotzingo, according to the Durán Codex
|date={{circa}} 1503/1507
|place=[[Atlixco]], Mexico
|result=Huejotzingo [[Pyrrhic victory]]:
*Mexico forces retreated with massive losses.
*Huejotzingo military forces highly weakened by massive losses.
|combatant1={{flagdeco|Aztec Empire}} [[Mexica Empire]]
|combatant2=[[Huejotzingo]]
|combatant2a=''Supported by'':{{ubl|[[Tlaxcala (Nahua state)|Tlaxcala]]|[[Cholula (Mesoamerican site)|Cholula]]|Tliliuhquitepec}}
|commander1={{ubl|'''Tlacahuepan'''{{KIA}}|Moctezuma II}}
|commander2=Tecayahuatzin(?)
|strength1=100,000 warriors
|strength2=Unknown (possibly 100,000 warriors)
|casualties1={{ubl|Possibly over 20,000 killed|Many wounded}}
|casualties2={{ubl|Possibly over 20,000 killed|Many captured}}
}}

====Planning and preparations====
Approximately in the year 1503 (or 1507, after the conquest of Tototepec, according to historian [[Diego Durán]]),{{sfn|Durán|1867|p=450}} a massive battle occurred in Atlixco which was fought mainly against Huejotzingo, a kingdom that used to be one of the most powerful ones in the [[Valley of Mexico]].{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=420}} The war was provoked by Moctezuma himself, who wanted to go to war against Huejotzingo because it had been many months since the last war. The local rulers of the region accepted Moctezuma's proposal to wage this war. It was declared as a flower war, and the invitation to go to war was accepted by the people of Huejotzingo, Tlaxcala, Cholula, and Tliliuhquitepec, a [[city-state]] nearby. The war was arranged to occur in the plains of Atlixco. Moctezuma went to the fight along with four or five of his brothers and two of his nephews.{{sfn|de Torquemada|1723|p=195}}

He named one of his brothers (or children, according to some sources),{{sfn|de Torquemada|1723|p=201}} Tlacahuepan, as the main commander of the troops against the troops of Huejotzingo. He was assigned 100,000 troops to fight. Tlacahuepan decided to begin the fight by dividing the troops into three groups which would attack one after the other, the first being the troops from Texcoco, then from Tlacopan, and lastly from Tenochtitlan.

====Battle====
He began by sending 200 troops to launch [[skirmish]]es against the Huexotzinca, but despite the large numbers and skirmishes, he was unable to break the enemy lines. The group of Texcoco suffered huge losses and once they were unable to fight they were put to rest while the group from Tlacopan was sent. However, they were still unable to break the lines. The Tenochca group then advanced and pushed to aid the Tepanecs of Tlacopan, causing multiple casualties against the Huexotzinca, but the lines were still not broken as more reinforcements arrived. Eventually, Tlacahuepan saw himself surrounded, and though he initially resisted, he finally surrendered. Though the Huexotzinca wanted to take him alive, he asked to be sacrificed there on the battlefield, and so he was killed, and then the rest of the Mexica troops retreated.{{sfn|Durán|1867|pp=450–452}} The result of this battle was considered humiliating for the empire. According to primary records, about 40,000 people were killed on both sides (possibly meaning that about 20,000 died on each side).{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=421}} Some important Mexica noblemen were also killed during the engagement, including Huitzilihuitzin (not to be confused with the [[Huitzilihuitl|''tlatoani'' of this name]]), Xalmich and Cuatacihuatl.

====Aftermath====
Regardless, multiple prisoners were taken after the fight, who were later sacrificed in Moctezuma's honor.{{sfn|de Torquemada|1723|p=195}} Tlacahuepan was remembered as a hero despite the loss, and many songs were dedicated to him to be remembered through poetry. In one song called ''Ycuic neçahualpilli yc tlamato huexotzinco. Cuextecayotl, Quitlali cuicani Tececepouhqui'' (''The song of Nezahualpilli when he took captives in Huexotzinco. [It tells of] the Huastec themes, it was written down by the singer Tececepouhqui''), he's referred as "the golden one, the [[Huastec civilization|Huastec]] lord, the owner of the sapota skirt", about the god [[Xipe Totec]], and also states "With the flowery liquor of war, he is drunk, my nobleman, the golden one, the Huastec Lord", about his Huastec heritage, using the stereotype that the Huastecs were drunkards.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Katarzyna|last=Szoblik|title=Traces of Aztec Cultural Memory in Sixteenth-Century Songs and Chronicles: The Case of Tlacahuepan|date=21 October 2020|journal=The Americas|publisher=Cambridge University Press|volume=77|issue=4|pages=513–537|doi=10.1017/tam.2020.35|s2cid=226372401|doi-access=free}}</ref> Anyway, the defeat was a humiliating one, and Moctezuma is said to have cried in anguish upon hearing of the death of Tlacahuepan and the massive loss of soldiers. Moctezuma himself welcomed the soldiers who survived back into Mexico, while the population that welcomed them mourned.{{sfn|Durán|1867|p=453}}

The fact that the Huexotzinca also suffered massive casualties caused their military power to be highly weakened by this battle and various others, and so this could be seen as the beginning of the fall of Huejotzingo, as multiple military losses against Tlaxcala and Mexico in the following years eventually led to its fall, despite the victory in the fight.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=423}}

===Other battles against Huejotzingo and its allies===
Various other battles occurred in the following years between Mexico and Huejotzingo, and though none of them were as big as the Battle of Atlixco, they still caused significant losses on both sides; high losses for Mexico and significant losses for Huejotzingo.

An engagement which occurred likely in the year of 1506. This fight was another flower war which was proposed by Cholula, with support from Huejotzingo, to be fought in Cuauhquechollan (today known as [[Huaquechula]], in modern-day Puebla), near Atlixco. Though Moctezuma did not want to fight as a result of the previous defeat in Atlixco, he saw no other option and prepared for the fight. In this fight, warriors from Texcoco, Tlacopan, Chalco, Xochimilco, and modern-day [[Tierra Caliente (Mexico)|Tierra Caliente]] participated. This battle reportedly ended with 8200 Mexicas killed or captured. However, the Mexica are said to have dealt a similar number of casualties in this one-day battle. The result of this battle was indecisive, as some reported it as a victory, but it seems Moctezuma II took it as a defeat and was highly upset about it, to the point that he complained against the gods.{{sfn|Durán|1867|pp=464–466}}

[[Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc]], however, reports that 10,000 Mexicas died in this fight and that the Mexica were so angry about the fight that they called for reinforcements who committed a "cruel slaughter" and captured 800 more enemies. He lists the number of Huexotzinco-Cholula casualties as 5600 killed and 400 captured in one other engagement afterwards, which resulted in 8200 Mexicas killed or captured.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=421}}

===Invasion of Tlaxcala===
====Initial stages====
It was approximately in the year 1504 or 1505 when the first large-scale conflicts between Mexico and Tlaxcala began. In this period, Moctezuma thought about placing the entire country under siege, understanding that most of it was surrounded by territories belonging to the empire. The ruler of Huejotzingo, Tecayahuatzin, sympathized with Moctezuma despite their connections with Tlaxcala and conflicts in the past, and through bribes and propaganda attempted to ally with Cholula and local [[Otomi]] populations to attack Tlaxcala, though with little success. The Tlaxcalans became greatly worried about this and began to grow suspicious of all allies they had fearing a betrayal, as Huejotzingo was one of Tlaxcala's closest states, as proven by its support at the battle of Atlixco. Moctezuma, however, had the disadvantage that many of his dominions surrounding Tlaxcala did not want to fight them, as many of them used to be their allies in the past even with all the promises Moctezuma made, and therefore his support was actually quite limited.

One of the first battles occurred in Xiloxochitlan (today known as {{interlanguage link|San Vicente Xiloxochitla|es}}), where multiple atrocities were committed. Despite this, the Tlaxcalan resistance managed to hold out, and after a great struggle, the Huexotzinca armies were repelled, though during the fight the [[Ocotelolco|Ocotelolca]] commander Tizatlacatzin was killed. Many other smaller battles took place in other parts of the border, though none of them were successful.{{sfn|de Torquemada|1723|pp=200–201}}

[[File:Moctezuma II recibiendo una embajada de Huejotzingo durante la guerra con Tlaxcala, en el folio 176v.png|thumb|left|Moctezuma II receiving the Huexotzinca embassy requesting for aid against the Tlaxcalans. Durán Codex]]
In response, Tlaxcala launched a counter-invasion against Huejotzingo, knowing that the Huexotzinca had been severely weakened by their fights with the Mexica Empire;{{sfn|Isaac|1983|pp=421–422}} their towns were sacked repeatedly and the entire nation was put essentially under siege, and the remains of the nation were now cornered in the region around the [[Popocatépetl]]. The Huexotzinca became greatly worried and knew they couldn't win the war alone, therefore a prince named Teayehuatl decided to send an embassy to Mexico to request aid against the Tlaxcalans. According to historians like Durán, this embassy was sent in the year 1507, just after the [[New Fire Ceremony]], while others date this embassy to the year 1512.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=422}} The embassy informed Moctezuma about the Tlaxcalan counter-invasion, which had been happening for over a year by this point, requesting Moctezuma to do something about the situation to expel the Tlaxcalans from their land. This was not the first time the Huexotzinca had requested aid from Mexico for similar reasons, as the first time was actually around the year 1499, during the reign of Ahuizotl, though this previous request was denied.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=416}} After consulting Nezahualpilli and the ruler of Tlacopan, Moctezuma agreed to help the Huexotzinca, despite the conflicts they had in the past, and sent a large number of soldiers to help this nation,{{sfn|Durán|1867|pp=471–474}} while also allowing many of their refugees to stay in Tenochtitlan and Chalco.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=422}}

====Late stages====
With the Mexica forces to support Huejotzingo, the invasion continued from the west with the main force from the towns of Cuauhquechollan, [[Tochimilco]], Itzocan (today known as [[Izúcar de Matamoros]]), and a smaller support force from a town named Tetellan (today, [[Tetela de Ocampo]]) and from a town named [[Chietla]]. The advance was quick, but the Tlaxcalans used the territories they had captured from Huejotzingo to advance safely to Atlixco through the captured areas with little population before the Mexica-Huejotzingo forces spread.{{sfn|Muñoz Camargo|1892|pp=114–115}} Once done, a long fight began between the two forces. The battle lasted 20 days, and both armies suffered huge losses, as the Tlaxcalans had a famous general captured and the Mexica lost so many men that they requested emergency reinforcements, asking for "all kinds of people in the shortest possible time". The Tlaxcalans claimed victory in that fight, and the Mexica were fought into a complete standstill.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=422}} The following year, Huejotzingo started to suffer a famine as the result of a lack of resources as the Tlaxcalans pushed further into their territory. The Tlaxcalans even went as far as burning down the royal palaces of Huejotzingo and stealing as much food as they could.{{sfn|Muñoz Camargo|1892|p=115}}

Approximately in the year 1516, Huejotzingo abandoned its alliance with the empire.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|p=416}}

The devastating wars that broke out against Huejotzingo caused this nation, which had been the most powerful nation in the Valley of Puebla in the opening years of the 16th century, to become weak enough to be conquered by Tlaxcala. This was the point at which Tlaxcala became Mexico's most powerful rival in the central Mexican area. The nation which used to be their main military focus was now the subject of a nation that would later bring the killing blow to the Mexica Empire.{{sfn|Isaac|1983|pp=423–425}}

The war between Mexico and Tlaxcala would eventually have devastating consequences, as the Tlaxcalans decided an alliance with Spain against Mexico on 23 September 1519 after a few battles proved that an alliance with this nation could help them destroy Moctezuma's reign.{{sfn|Díaz del Castillo|2011|pp=227–228}}