The Prince Essay Research Paper Niccol free essay sample

The Prince Essay, Research Paper Niccol Machiavelli # 8217 ; s The Prince is a blunt political booklet refering the assorted sorts of princedoms, military personal businesss, the qualities of a Prince, and Machiavelli # 8217 ; s positions on Italy # 8217 ; s political position during the Renaissance. Machiavelli uses many specific illustrations throughout the text both ancient and current to Renaissance epoch. To understand the book more wholly and Machiavelli # 8217 ; s grounds for composing The Prince, it is necessary to understand Machiavelli # 8217 ; s life and the times he lived in. When Niccolo Machiavelli was born in the spring of 1469, Italy had attained a high topographic point in the European community, but it would non last. By the clip Machiavelli had reached the age of 25, King Charles VIII of France had driven the governing Medici household out of the metropolis of Florence, the last resisting Italian princedom. The Florentines would non stand for this ; they ousted the new swayer out of the metropolis and founded the Florentine democracy. We will write a custom essay sample on The Prince Essay Research Paper Niccol or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Machiavelli shortly started work as clerk under Adriani, caput of the Second Chancery. Four old ages past by and in 1498, Machiavelli became Chief Secretary of the Florentine Republic, and so subsequently that twelvemonth, he succeeded Adriani as caput of the Second Chancery. While in this place as Chief Secretary, he went on many diplomatic missions and observed many foreign authoritiess in action. From these experiences, Machiavelli would subsequently pull the decisions, he writes about in The Prince. He was entrusted with legion missions to France, ally of the Florentine democracy, to run into with King Louis XII in the old ages 1500, 1504, and 1510. In 1502, Niccol Machiavelli married Marietta Corsini and traveled to Romagna, where he observed the incidents that led to the slaying of Cesare Borgia. Machiavelli # 8217 ; s survey of Cesare Borgia, his actions and the events taking to his decease greatly influenced his political beliefs. Machiavelli returned to Florence in January of 1503, later that twelvemonth he witnessed the election of Pope Julius II. In December of 1506, Machiavelli submitted his program to form a Florentine reserves to Pierre Soderini, leader of the Florentine democracy. Soderini accepted his petition and created the Nove di Mili z. After forming the Florentine foot, Machiavelli envoyed in 1507 to run into with Emperor Maximilian II, who was fixing his invasion of Italy. The Florentine reserves fought at the gaining control of Pisa in 1509. Machiavelli went on his last mission to France in 1510. Pope Julius II allied himself with Spain and Venice, together they conquered France, the Florentine # 8217 ; s ally. Then in 1512, the Spanish ground forces invaded Florence and defeated the Florentine reserves. The Medici household returned to power and deponed Machiavelli from his station. The Medici household accused Machiavelli of engagement in a confederacy against them ; they imprisoned him for a little clip. After the election of Giovanni de Medici to the pontificate as Leo X, they released Machiavelli. Machiavelli retired to a little farm in San Casciano, where he would compose his statements on political relations. He began composing The Prince and his other lesser known work The Discourses in 1513. In 1515, he wrote a comedy, La Mandragola, a sarcasm on seduction. The Medici household consulted Machiavelli in 1519 on a new Florentine fundamental law. In 1520, he wrote The Life of Castruccio Castracani, a narrative essay on the life of adult male, who founded the province of Lucca in Tuscany, in the 14th century. Machiavelli published seven books in 1521 entitled The Art of War. The seven books contain Machiavelli # 8217 ; s ideas on war tactics and the high quality of national military personnels over soldier of fortunes. The Medici household used Machiavelli # 8217 ; s services once more in 1525 ; they commissioned him to compose The History of Florence. A twelvemonth subsequently in 1526, Pope Clement VII, a Medici, contracted Machiavelli to study the defences at Florence and so sent him to run into with historian Francesco Guicciardini. In 1527, the imperial ground forces invaded and defiled Rome. Following this profanation of Rome, the Florentines removed the Medici from power and established a 2nd democracy. Machiavelli did non return to office, for he was a suspected ally of the Medici. He became really sick and died June 20, 1527. Niccolo Machiavelli is uprightly buried at Santa Croce, the church of Florence. The first several chapters of The Prince explicate the four types of princedoms and the methods in which they are acquired. Chapter I states that all authoritiess are either democracies or princedoms. From at that place, all princedoms are familial, assorted, new, or ecclesiastical. Then, Machiavelli goes on to state that familial princedoms are easy maintained, granted that the prince non diverge from his ascendants policies. Mixed princedoms originate when familial princedoms get new districts. These princedoms are non as easy kept, for two grounds. The first is that the people will replace their leader if they feel it would break conditions. Machiavelli gives five defences for this state of affairs. The first and best is to shack in the new state. Second, a prince should put up settlements to function as connexions to the female parent state. A prince should so go the main guardian of the less puissant next districts. Then, he should weaken his more powerful neighbours. For no gro und, should a prince allow any foreign power to come in the state. The 2nd ground assorted princedoms are difficult to keep is a prince can non fulfill the expectancies of those who helped him take over, and he does non desire to utilize inordinate actions because he requires the backup of the people. Chapter IV is entitled Why the Kingdom of Darius, Conquered by Alexander, Did Not, On Alexander # 8217 ; s Death, Rebel Against His Successors, the reply to the inquiry lies in the different manner in which the province was governed. The Kingdom of Darius was ruled in an bossy manner common to Asia during Alexander the Great # 8217 ; s clip unlike the feudal system common to Europe. This bossy manner was present in the Kingdom of Turkey during Machiavelli # 8217 ; s clip, where in Turkey the prince is the maestro of everyone and everything. Everyone is his slave ; he transfers his governors about at a caprice. This signifier of authorities is hard to suppress because everyone who assists the male monarch is dependent upon him, but is easy maintain after the prince # 8217 ; s household is subjugated. The precise opposite is the feudal system in the Kingdom of France where the Lords are loved by their ain people and the male monarch would merely swear a baronial at his ain hazard. Suppressing a feudal authorities like this is easy done, when the Lords are turned against the male monarch. There are three methods to retaining a freshly acquired district. The first and most definite, is to destruct it. The 2nd is for the prince to travel and shack at that place. Third, the prince may elect to let the district to populate under its ain Torahs. This method is non the surest manner, although it keeps the people happy. The lone manner to be certain is to foremost, destruct it, and 2nd, reside in it. Chapter VI # 8211 ; IX clear up the four types of new princedoms, grouped by how they are acquired. When a prince acquires a new princedom by his ain weaponries, the trouble of keeping his station depends entirely upon his ability. Although good luck may be involved, fortune is worthless without virtuousness. Princes who get their princedoms by the assistance of others and good luck, do non keep power easy. The best of illustration of this is Cesare Borgia, whose male parent, Alexander VI, aided Cesare in suppressing Romagna. However, when his male parent died and Julius II became Catholic Pope, Borgia was ruined. Princedoms that are acquired through evil conveying merely discredit to their princes non awards. Civic princedoms can be attained in two manners, by the support of the people or by the aid of the Lords. Those princes, who come to power by the aid of the Lords, are less powerful than those who come to power by the love of the peopl vitamin E are. For the Lords think they are equal with the prince, but the people are his loving topics, ready at his bid. Chapter X introduces military personal businesss, particularly military might as the step of the strength of the province. Princes need to hold strong ground forcess and those who do non necessitate strong defences and abundant supplies. Machiavelli asserts that military power entirely is non equal, a prince must hold the love of his people. For a prince loved by his people and that has strong munitions can outlive any siege effort. Ecclesiastical princedoms are governed by spiritual regulations. These spiritual provinces frequently have huge secular power. They are troublesome to take over, but easy maintain thenceforth, for they prince derives his power from a higher being in the eyes of his followings. The Catholic Pope, during Machiavelli # 8217 ; s clip, was non merely a spiritual leader, but besides an enterprising secular prince. The pontificate lost some of its secular power after the reformation in the early 1500 # 8217 ; s. Chapters XII # 8211 ; XIV cover with the types of soldiers, Machiavelli # 8217 ; s distrust towards soldier of fortunes, and the duties of prince affecting the armed forces. The four types of soldiers mentioned by Machiavelli are soldier of fortunes, subsidiary, native, and assorted. Machiavelli considers materialistic and subsidiary military personnels to be useless and unsafe. He maintains that soldier of fortunes will give manner in the minute of test on the battleground. Auxiliary military personnels should non be relied on either, due to the fact they non under the direct regulation of the prince. Native military personnels, whether they are the citizens of a democracy or the topics of a princedom, make the best pick. They fight for national causes non a meager pay or an ally. Assorted military personnels result from intermixing materialistic and national military personnels. Assorted military personnels are better than soldier of fortunes or subsidiary military personnels, bu t native military personnels are uncomparable. Machiavelli blames the foreign domination of Italy on the usage of soldier of fortunes that were hired to halt Charles VIII in 1494. War is the great equaliser, it can let a prince to keep his princedom, and can raise an mean adult male to a place of power. A prince should analyze the history of war, imitate the actions of masters, and analyze the grounds for licking. Chapter Fifteen begins the subdivision of the book covering with the qualities of a prince. Princes are people ; they have good and bad qualities. Machiavelli points this out, he understands their will neer be an ideal individual. Machiavelli suggests that princes should endeavor to demo those qualities, which would assist him keep his province, and curtail those qualities that would strip him of his province. A prince should non be broad because it requires heavy revenue enhancement of the people to keep the repute of being broad. The people will easy get down to dislike the prince, as he requires more revenue enhancements. On the other manus, if a prince is miserly, as his princedom grows, he will necessitate less and less revenue enhancement on the people. He will show himself, as progressively broad and derive favour with is people. The quality of mercy is non an inauspicious quality for a prince, but he should be alert as non allow anyone mistreat his clemency. Cruelty can be used for good, like when Cesare Borgia unified Romagna. Cesare Borgia # 8217 ; s inhuman treatment restored Romagna to peace and order, while on the contrary the Florentine # 8217 ; s clemency allowed Pistoia to be destroyed. Princes in the company of soldier should non avoid the repute of being cruel, because clement generals frequently lose control of their ground forcess. When a prince uses inhuman treatment, he should make so in a manner that he incites fear, but non hatred. Machiavelli declares that princes are above the moral codification for the good of province. Princes must maintain a good outside ; they should look spiritual and honest. They must avoid hate, for a prince who is hated is destined for ruin. A prince should non take belongings of his topics or disrespect their adult females. Princes should keep a good strong military and good Alliess to support from external enemies. To protect against confederacies, he should derive favour with topics and avoid hatred and discredit. Machiavelli exhorts the best method to keep regard for the Lords and to fulfill the people is to make a parliament. A prince of a new princedom should neer demilitarize his topics and if he discovers them disarmed, he should build up them. The lone case, in which a prince should demilitarize his topics, is merely after he has annexed a freshly acquired district. In this case, he should demilitarize merely his newer topics to avoid rebellion. A prince should neer construct a fortress to protect himself from his ain topics. Rather, he should befriend them and avoid hatred. Chapter Twenty-two nowadayss techniques for a prince to achieve esteem and regard. The first technique is to hold an firm foreign policy ; an illustration is Ferdinand of Aragon who unified Spain under the name of Catholicism. A prince can derive a repute by domestic policy, exemplified by Messer Bernab of Milan, whose domestic policies of honoring and punishing attained him a far-reaching repute. Princes should avoid declaring neutrality ; they should be either true ally or true enemy. However, a prince should neer ally himself with a powerful leader, to avoid going his captive. A prince should be a frequenter of the humanistic disciplines and scientific disciplines, and promote his topics who prosper and add to the illustriousness of his princedom. Princes should be really know aparting when they select their secretaries. He should choose people who are wise and prudent, who will freely talk their head, and non blandish him. A prince # 8217 ; s counsellors should give advice merely when asked, and should state the truth at all times. Once a prince has heard the advice of his counsellors, he should do a determination and transport it out. A prince # 8217 ; s secretaries are important picks because princes are judged by the people environing them. This chapter refering the pick of secretaries concludes the subdivision of The Prince pertaining to the qualities of a prince. The last several chapters of the book discuss Machiavelli # 8217 ; s positions on Italy # 8217 ; s political state of affairs and his grounds for composing the book. In chapter XXIV, Machiavelli examines the grounds the princes of Italy have lost their princedoms. The first ground given, they all lacked native military personnels. They hired soldier of fortunes and used subsidiary military personnels. Their mistakes have already been stated. The 2nd, the princes did non lenify and befriend their people or they did non restrict the power and protect themselves from the Lords. Chapter Twenty-five explains how princes can command their luck by comparing luck to a adult female. Chapter Twenty-six, the last chapter, is an essay on how a prince should unify Italy and emancipate the Italians from foreign regulation The dedication and last chapter of book define Machiavelli # 8217 ; s motives for The Prince. Machiavelli dedicated the book to Lorenzo di Piero de # 8217 ; Medici the Magnificent. He did this to derive favour with Medici household and return the public life in Florence. His 2nd motive lies in the last chapter, where Machiavelli elucidates his hope that a prince will unify Italy, under one crowned head swayer, as Machiavelli observed on his missions to France. Machiavelli believed that Jesus would come from the Medici household and urges the Medici to utilize the cognition from his book to deliver and unite Italy. Niccol Machiavelli was an intelligent politician who defined the scientific discipline of political relations. His book, The Prince, was the first of its sort. It explores non merely the obtaining of power, but besides keeping power, which defines a strong leader from the remainder. Machiavelli clearly writes about present human conditions non some ideal utopia. He uses logically statements, is realistic in his attack, and reveals his deep apprehension of the liberty of political relations. Many of his thoughts still hold true today, and have proven themselves true in the twentieth century.