Niccolo Machiavelli

Throughout the course of time, history has witnessed countless thinkers, philosophers and intellectuals. These men of learning have contributed in the psychological evolution of mankind, by posing innovative theories on subjects as diverse as life, religion, spiritualism and systems of governance. Some of these men were praised; others were maligned and slandered, whereas a few were out-rightly condemned as heretics. However, the fact remains that all of these men, no matter how controversial in their theories, played a pivotal role in ensuring the perpetuity of mankind's cycle of intellect.

In order to fully appreciate The Prince, you may want to understand a bit about the background of this political philosophy and Machiavelli's motivation for writing. As a politician who worked for the Florentine Republic before his exile, Machiavelli desired to see a united Italy. In order for this to be accomplished, he believed that one must forego the usual means and aim for perfection no matter the methods. In an era when new monarchs were just beginning to take power and the Italian Renaissance was flourishing, Machiavelli provided new groundwork for European politics.

The Prince discusses political ideas against a backdrop of Renaissance affairs of state and prevalent absolutism, in order to provide a plan for a leader to unite Italy. The Prince was written in an era when dictators and military ruled by force and assassination, and it was the common belief that integrity was useless in the political context of the times. Machiavelli lived during the peak of the Italian Renaissance, with great artistic and scientific achievements, as well as horrific scandals and the establishment of foreign domination over Italy. Because the country was divided into separate city-states, it was weak. Machiavelli saw the need for one ruler to liberate the peninsula from foreign leaders and to fully unite Italy. It was with this motivation that Machiavelli wrote The Prince, intending it to provide the skills necessary to bring Italy together against domination and end the fighting among each other in order to focus on internal strength, and to fight non-Italian invaders. The political environment was unstable and fully controlling as rulers vied for power, and countries tried to gain strength.