Conduct of War: Thomas More and Niccolo Machiavelli

Conduct of War: Thomas More and Niccolo Machiavelli

Thomas More, in his creation of Utopia, brings to life a world where the best and worst qualities of a society are to be found. Looking at their conduct of war, More paints a picture of society that sees war as being incredibly below humans, even with his claim that "humans are more addicted to it than any of the lower animals." Throughout the narrator's, Raphael, explanation of warfare in Utopia More constantly shows a society that neatly contrasts with the ideas of war that Niccolo Machiavelli gives in his work The Prince.

While Machiavelli provides an argument against how the Utopians have chosen to proceed with their wars, he gives a contradicting statement showing their conduct to be justified. Machiavelli offers much advice on how a prince must be "good," but not good in the traditional definition of "good.' He argues that to be an effective prince it "is necessary ...to learn how not to be good." In regard to the Utopians they have taken this lesson and turned it towards their philosophy of warfare. The "good" thing is to use one's own troops in war, as this helps to maintain the security of the state. They, valuing human life as they do, have opted to use mercenaries, the option that is not "good."

Machiavelli's The Prince sets down what has become for many a bible in political relations of rulers to the ruled and those surrounding them. Through the use of historical examples and sharp reasoning, Machiavelli quickly sets rules for waging war that make perfect sense. He argues that three types of forces, those of mercenaries, auxilaries and mixed are available to a prince but he has strong reservations as to which type a ruler would be wise to use. Simply put, Machiavelli doesn't like or trust mercenaries.

Machiavelli's twelfth and thirteenth sections deal with his distaste for these types of soldiers. He quickly calls them "useless and dangerous," arguing that if a ruler uses them to secure and defend his territory he must always be on the watch against someone who will come along and pay a higher Ð''trifling wage." He moves on to argue that not only are mercenaries useless, but so are the troops of another prince, for "if they lose you are defeated, and if they conquer you remain their prisoner."

The only troops worth retaining are those of that the prince has control over, namely troops composed "either of subjects or of citizens of one's own dependants." These troops give security and strength to the prince, as they are always under his control-not the control of the highest bidder or of foreign nobles who may decide they would be of better use attempting to take over the prince's kingdom.

While these pieces of advice are sound and seem to have been closely followed by leaders throughout history (conscious or not of Machiavelli), there is one kingdom that has done rather well breaking them. The land of Utopia, as described by Thomas More presents a counter to the ideas of Machiavelli regarding the use of mercenaries, auxiliaries and local troops.

As a whole the entire race of Utopians find nothing at all glorious about war. They call it "quite subhuman." Despite this they still train for war, making certain that both sexes, if the need arise, are capable of combat. In general they fight for self-defense or the interests of a trading partner. They also fight wars to "liberate the victims of dictatorship-which they do in a spirit of humanity." The Utopians will also go to war for friendly powers in order to fight against acts of aggression-as long as they have been consulted well in advance.

Once it becomes apparent that conflict cannot be avoided, the Utopians use the vast amounts of wealth they have accrued through their various endeavors to pay for the services of the Venalians, a group that is "extremely primitive and savage" and seem to be "naturally designed for nothing but war." While Machiavelli is correct (for these purposes, regarding the attitude of mercenaries) in how the Venalians will fight with "loyalty and zeal" there is no guarantee they will tomorrow, for "they'll join your enemy tomorrow, if he'll pay them better." The Utopians know this; even expect this, so they are perfectly content to pay a little more in order to have the Venalians continue to fight for them.

The Utopians want to use men like the Venalians precisely because of their wish for war. While the Utopians are perfectly capable of waging war in various manners, they would rather not