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Niccolò Machiavelli

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI

1469 - 1527

The Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli has a bad reputation and his advice is that a ruler interested in maintaining and increasing his power must resort to fraud, cunning and lies, accompanied by the use of force without any pity and mercy.

Several commentators have expressed concern to him, some of whom refuted and denounced his views, and some of them praised him for being a difficult and realistic man who dared to describe the world as it is. And that Machiavelli is one of the few writers whose works have been extensively studied and written by philosophers and politicians alike.

Machiavelli was born in 1496 in Florence, Italy. His father was a lawyer and belonged to an ancient family, but he was not well off financially.

Italy during Machiavelli's life - and at the height of: the Renaissance in Italy - was divided into many and small emirates, and this is different from what was the case in France, Spain or England. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that Italy was weak in his days despite the brilliance of its culture at that time.

Florence was ruled during the youth of the Medici Machiavelli, who was the most prominent of them Lorenzo the Great, but Lorenzo died in 1493 and after a few years the Medici were expelled from Florence and became a republic. He carried out diplomatic missions on behalf of Florence for 14 years. He moved between France, Germany and Italy. -

In 1512 the Florentine Republic was defeated and the Medici returned to power, and then Machiavelli was expelled from his job, and in the following year he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a conspiracy against the new Medici rulers. He was tortured, but he obtained his innocence and was released in the same year. He retired to an estate near Florence.

During the next fourteen years he wrote several books, the most famous of which was the book (The Prince) written in (1513) and among his other books (The Art of War), (The History of Florence) and (Lamend Ragula), which is a nice play that is still shown from time to time.

But his fame is based on the Prince's book, which is in fact the largest brilliant and wonderful book, and it is the most widely spread or read philosophical book. Machiavelli married and had six children and died in 1527 at the age of sixty-five.

The Prince's book is practical advice for the head of any state, and the main point in the book is that if the ruler wants to succeed, he must completely ignore moral considerations and rely on strength and cunning. He emphasizes the state's good armament, and he said that the army that is relied upon is the army taken by lot from the people of the country. . A country that relies on mercenaries or teams from other countries is necessarily weak and vulnerable.

Machiavelli advises the prince to secure the support of his people, because if the opposite happens, he has no helper or refuge during distress. And he said that the ruler must show some severity and brutality at the beginning of the matter, so he must strike first and need to strike every day. As for the benefits and data, they must be provided little by little so that the people can enjoy them. To be successful, the prince must surround himself with able and loyal ministers. He advises the princes to avoid flattery and offers some tips to show how they can do so.

Then the prince continues to advise him not to rely on retaining his faith and religion if that conflicts with his interest.

The fact is that Machiavelli was affected by the political weakness of Italy and was yearning for a strong prince in all respects so that he would unite the country and expel all foreign invaders from it.

And the criticisms leveled at Machiavelli from a moral point of view do not mean that he was out of influence and influence.

Although Mussolini was one of the few politicians who praised Machiavelli, many eminent personalities had read his books. It is said that Napoleon slept with a copy of the book (The Prince) under his pillow, as well as it is said about Hitler and Stalin.