The Aztec empire was one of the few empires that ruled through cruelty throughout its entire lifetime.  The Aztec empire is thought to have ruled strongly from 1325 AD to 1521 AD.  The Aztec empire was superior to most other civilization in Military strength and to even further strengthening this power they had what was called Garland Wars.  Garland Wars was a summon of all Aztec allies to come and aid in conquering or fighting of their opponents.  The Aztecs usually used clubs lined with Obsidian so that they could stun or knock out their opponents rather than kill them.  Only when their objective was to kill their opponents did they actually bring out their swords and fight to a bloody end.  The Aztecs had a unique unit, every civilization had a special fighting unit, known as the Jaguar Warrior.  The Jaguar warrior was specially suited for taking and doing heavy blows to the opponent. 

Aztec myths say that sacrifice was needed often  so that the blood of the victims may be used to give the sun its strength.  Thousands of sacrificial victims a day were not uncommon.  They would even cut the heart out of a living person just detaining him while they ripped it out.  These sacrifices happened on top of large scale pyramids which often had the blood flowing smoothly down the steps.

The Aztec economy was often based off of maize, corn.  Lets see if you can guess how they thought the crops were produced.  Thats right, you guessed it; sacrifice.  It was believed that crops would fail if the Aztecs didnt sacrifice daily.

The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan is located where present day Mexico City is.  Part of the Mayan Empire and Cortezs army and navy were already able to greatly weaken the Aztecs and after they survived that they were conquerored by a small Spanish army with some horses and guns.  The Aztec empire collapsed from diseases and opponents with higher weapons.