Niccolo’s book

Introduction

The book was written by Niccolo. It reality they were instructions to a prince on how he was to govern. That was in the year 1531. The letter might have been addressed to Prince Lorenzo de Medici, as at that time Lorenzo was the Prince. It was at a time when Italy was divided, and foreign powers were conquering one state after the other. The taking over of state after state inspired Niccolo to write to the king detailing the steps he was to take in order to keep the Kingdom together.

The tactics that were given to the Prince to remain in power were not ethical and at times brutal. One such tactic that was considered as a means to stay in control was the act of conquering a territory maintaining the law and rules, but making sure the entire family of the Prince is eliminated. By killing the family the Prince would be able to merge the new Kingdom much easily with the old to become one. Even though that was deemed necessary at the time as by eliminating the family there was now minimal chances of a revolt (Niccollo 120). The killing of an entire family which might have included children, women, and the old who are innocent is unethical. This is evident when the Prince is given instructions to conquer colonies within the same country or that shares the same language. The prince is given examples of such states that had been conquered such as, Burgundy Normandy, and Gascony.

To conquer a colony, a great army is needed, but that is not enough. To be successful in conquering q state one needs the support of the people. King Louis was able to occupy Milan as a result of the support of the people but it was the same people that opened the gate for Duke to win back Milan. In order to gain the support of the people the prince had to lie to the people by promising a better life and future. At the end, the people will realize that the ruler is even worse than the leader they had before (Niccollo 150). The other tactic that was used was, use of devastation to help keep possession. The use of force, destroying the newly acquired colony thus making it desperate as it will have to depend on the new ruler. By that the Prince will not be able to face opposition as the people would not rebel against the new ruler. In making the people desperate was a sure way of gaining the loyalty of the people, and a sure way of remaining in power.

Use of violence in order to stay in power was another tactic that was suggested to the Prince. This was to be used on the most rebellious states, even though it was to be fast. In doing so the Prince would have gained control by instilling fear in the people (Niccollo 180).

Most people tend to turn to religion in times of difficulty, and knowing that, the prince is advice to turn to religion to help secure power. By influencing the religious leaders to support the ruler of the time, this is done by providing help to the religious institutions. In so doing the people are convinced that the ruler is religious, and in that more people tend to support the leader (Niccollo 200).

In case problems arose from the newly acquires states, that had different language, and language, the Prince was advised to go and live in the newly acquired states. By living in the states, the prince would be able to stamp authority. The prince would also be able to deal with any problem that might arise on the spot, or remedy them. The Prince presence would also deter the officials from looting the newly acquired state (Niccollo 180).The presence of the Prince would also create more fear in the people who are not on his side, and more respect for the people on his side. The presence of the Prince was also important as it made the Prince easily to the people. The Prince would be able to know the problems facing the people, and solve them in time, and in so doing gain the trust of the people (Niccollo 190).

The Prince is advised further to remain at war all the time. The need for war at the time was necessary as it was the determinant if a Prince was powerful or not. The Prince had to fight to gain more land, and territory. Fighting was also necessary to help the Prince Keep possession of the territory. In taking the advice the Prince was to be at war all the time even with the neighbors in the bid to gaining more land, and territory (Niccollo 220).

Conclusion

As a leader, one sometimes has to do certain things to make sure that the leadership is respected. From the book the Prince had to do what was necessary in order to remain in power. Even though some of the methods cannot be considered ethical in the modern times, back then it was necessary for survival.

Work cited

Niccollo Machiavelli. The Prince(Special Student Edition), SoHo Books, 2010.