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Machiavelli’s chief recommendations to the prince, and how his prince should use the armed forces in pursuing the recommendations
The Prince is a political treatise written in the 16th century by an Italian envoy Niccolò Machiavelli who was also a political theorist. The book contained leadership guidelines to be used by the newly elected royals and prices. Although the book remained unprinted until 1532, and a similar version was distributed in 1513 entitled using a Latin language, De Principatibus, Of Principalities. The Prince’s work initially appeared to be traditional due to Machiavelli’s writing style but later agreed that the book’s ideas were groundbreaking concerning modern politics. The manuscript seemed to be traditional partially due to the vernacular language that the author used in writing it instead of Latin language similar to other Renaissance texts such as the Divine Comedy by an Italian poet Dante. The manuscript’s central theme is anticipating princes’ objectives, such as endurance, and splendor can defend the usage of immoral ways to achieve those goals. Even though the Machiavelli’s work occurred during the Renaissance period, his recommendations to the princes remain useful and fundamental even to modern politics.
The Prince’s work drew the world’s attention upon its publication due to the authentic and radical nature of the Machiavelli’s recommendations to the prince. The proposals appeared to be genuine and transformative to the traditional rulers and modern world politics. The main Machiavelli’s advice in The Prince includes relying on virtue rather than fortune but understand that prosperity will intervene, seek glory for shared good rather than power, strive to be respected instead of ability, be equally the lion and the fox in control, and know when not to be good. In chasing these recommendations, the prince’s role is to create citizens from the persons, create and maintain laws, avoid using fortifications, and distinguish the right time to use military forces.
Seeking for a common good rather than power is one of the fundamental recommendations that Machiavelli believed its essential for the prince’s victory. Machiavelli’s argument is centralized on the systematic way that the prince should execute power, not for personal gain but instead enrich society. The prince should govern prudently to ensure the citizens benefit from all administrative posts and realize the royals’ essence and the price of power. Machiavelli assumed that a prince’s success is directly proportional to how much he uses violence and authority for the common good instead of self-benefit and fame. To a further extend, he claimed that a leader must be wise enough to confront every circumstance that comes across their way and paint the minor errors that stem within the power limits. The prince must not, by all means, ignore the lower institution that functions directly to the princes as Machiavelli relates what happens to a prince in the absence of common good. In his argument, Machiavelli says, “Therefore Louis made five errors: he destroyed the minor powers, he increased the strength of one of the greater powers Italy, and he brought in a foreign power…”. Machiavelli described the France prince as the cause of the mistakes that caused France to perform poorly in their war against the Nipple.
Machiavelli recommends that relying on virtue rather than fortune is a significant factor that defines the quality of leadership that a prince should demonstrate. He believed that prosperity in direction is the route that leads to good fortune. In other words, Machiavelli defines virtue as the abilities that other people praise in a particular person, such as compassion, purity, and generosity. He says that a prince acts virtuously and always should appear virtuous in all circumstances, which makes the prince conscientious in his duties. To be moral means that a prince should not be afraid of cruelty and dishonesty practices if they lead to citizens’ benefit. Generally, voices and virtues should be geared toward establishing a successful end but not for personal gain.
According to Machiavelli, creating and maintaining fair laws originates from an excellent military system as he asserts that “the presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound laws.” Machiavelli offers a new perception of war and stipulates that conflict is not a fundamental factor in developing a state but reveals that a form must be laid upon a foundation of a successful action. In his descriptions, Machiavelli focuses on unfolding the meaning of a successful war and what the rulers must consider. He further explains how to strengthen a city, deal with subjects in a newly attained land, and mitigate internal conflicts that may hinder the external state’s wars. To be a diplomat, Machiavelli unveils other means of engaging in battle rather than military forces, including international diplomacy, geographic mystery, national politics, calculated strategy, and chronological investigation. When Machiavelli wrote The Prince manuscript, European nations were suffering from constant tension from neighboring kingdoms. His ideas of engaging militaries in all state affairs emerged as a new trend of modernization in political thinking.
A prince should strive to be respected instead of beholding power without honor and due esteem from the people. To attain unlimited respect, a prince must, by all means, shift the efforts toward making citizens. Machiavelli believes that the prince should invest in arming and training the citizens to fight the enemies. By so doing, he not only earns favor from the citizens but also reinforces the military. The prince must also allow the citizens to defend their rights to establish splendor and the common good.
In pursuing the recommendations, Machiavelli describes how a prince should use the military and territories to provide a defense to the state. According to him, a country must have fair laws and armed military forces, which are the two fundamental necessities for both new and old forms. To the prince, he should be full “armed” with his arms to make him capable of appearing on a battlefield. In his is writing, Machiavelli believes that a prince who depends on other countries for military support is not self-sufficient to participate in a war successfully. In other words, he says that a prince who lacks adequate forces should fortify the city because a proper fortification of a city lowers the chances of attack. If it happens, most military forces cannot withstand a well-fortified city. Machiavelli demonstrated his innovativeness as opposes mercenaries’ use due to his experience in Florence as he claims that mercenaries are always undisciplined, cowards without fidelity, and always motivated through financial means. Machiavelli links the weakness of the Italian city-states to the continued reliance on mercenaries. Machiavelli also cautions the prince against using hired military since their control is from proficient leaders and can sometimes rise against the employer. In his argument, Machiavelli believed that a prince could only preserve and maintain his hereditary power through war, and a citizen may also rise into power. He further advises the prince that he should be well informed on the landscape neighboring his state to launch attacks quickly and efficiently defend the kingdom.
In conclusion, the book contained the procedures that a new prince and royals should embrace in their territories to be successful. Machiavelli devoted his efforts to describing war and how the prince should use the military to defend his territories and launch an attack on the neighboring states. Among the main recommendations that Machiavelli directs to the prince include relying on virtue rather than fortune but understand that prosperity will intervene, seek glory for shared good rather than power, strive to be respected instead of ability, be equally the lion and the fox in control and know when not to be good. In pursuing these recommendations, the prince’s role is to create citizens from the persons, create and maintain laws, avoid using fortifications, and distinguish the right time to use military forces. Further, Machiavelli warns the prince not to embrace the use of mercenaries and auxiliary military forces, saying that many of them are motivated by money,
Works Cited
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The prince and other writings. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
Nederman, Cary. “Niccolò Machiavelli.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2009).
Ruffo-Fiore, Silvia. Niccolò Machiavelli. Boston, MA: Twayne, 1982.
Machiavelli, Niccolò, et al. Le prince. Chez Henry Wetstein, 1969.