Machiavelli's Work example essay topic

MACHIAVELLI Through the centuries Machiavelli, "the most hated man who ever lived", as the mocking manipulation on man. He is said to have been a evil genius, even worse than Judas. He knew that Christianity was a good thing but wouldn't accept it. He committed sin against the Holy Ghost and was said to be the Devil incarnate.

Machiavelli was a synonym for unscrupulous schemer passed down through the Italian language. In 1469 he was born to a noble family. His father who owned two small farms and an inn was a retired lawyer. His mother wrote songs to the Virgin Mary as a church goer. Machiavelli had three brothers.

Tot to, the youngest, became a priest. He came up with the idea of the confessional. For a long period of time there was peace in Florence. This period was known as a Medici. When Machiavelli was 25, this peace ended as did his happiness. In 1494 Italy was invaded by King Charles V of France to take over the kingdom of Naples.

Because of the long period of peace the people who would many years ago fight for their freedom became afraid and did not man the wall. They instead allowed Charles to come in and even paid him not to hurt any of the people. The takeover led to Machiavelli's father going bankrupt and to puritanical revolution. It also led to internal wars which started the downfall. Now to rule was Savonarola the Dominican. He claimed that the French invasion was punishment for a pagan way of life.

With this he burned classic books and nude pictures. He said a way to not go through any more punishment would be for the Florence people to fast and pray. The people eventually turned against him and in 1498 burned him at the stake. During this same year Machiavelli became administrator for the Florentine Republic.

He did not agree with the idea for regeneration and urged the people to join a militia. In 1512 Spain became the enemy of Italy instead of France. This would be the first big test for the new militia. France conquered the town in which Machiavelli's militia were defending by using five thousand men to defeat just four thousand of the militia. Florence eventually surrendered without a fight due to the overwhelming amount of soldiers brought by France. Machiavelli eventually lost his job and was sent to his farm.

Out of work and nothing to do Machiavelli wrote his great book, "The Prince". He wrote this in order to answer questions about the defeats of his armies. He said that Italy must be lead by a prince who would be a soldier. He gave examples of how this prince should not act. One being Alexander Severus, who in all his time of reign in the third century did not put anyone to death without a trial.

Machiavelli wrote this book for Giuliano de' Medici. He hoped that Medici would listen to what is in the book and drive out the foreigners. This would not work though for Medici was a kind, gentle man who eventually became sick and died. Machiavelli's teachings were very influencing after his death even though while he was alive no one would listen. It tought people to appear good in order to get an advantage over others.

Many Kings in France studied his work but did not work out for them. Henry and Henry IV were murdered after going by the readings of Machiavelli. Countries such as England who had never been defeated would not listen to Machiavelli for they had no reason to change what was working. In 1859 Machiavelli's work would be published by the government and used to a certain extent. Machiavelli's work today in irrelevant. His way would not work in a world with democracy.

To a certain extent his idea for solving problems by looking to the past is practiced, mostly by foreign ministers. One idea that will remain used through time is the idea that militaries should always remain prepared. You can see that Machiavelli was an evil man by him going against Christianity and trying everyone to go against it as well. He had many good ideas but many were against the way of the rest of the world and thus he was overtaken.