The Prince

I found Niccolo Machiavelli’s article, “The Qualities of the Prince” to be very interesting. His main point was on war and some of his other ideas go along with war. Machiavelli states that a prince should be all about “war, its institutions, and its discipline” to be a good leader. A prince should also be training constantly if he is not in a state of war. Machiavelli said there were two ways to train, “One by action, the by the mind.” To train by action, the prince should go out hunting and accustom his body to the hardships that nature can cause. A prince should also “learn the nature of the terrain, and know how mountains slope, how valleys open, how plains lie, and understand the nature of rivers and swamps.” When a prince knows many different terrains he can better defend his land and he can also adapt to other terrains he hasn’t seen yet. Then to train the mind a prince should read history and study great man and how they conducted themselves in wars. The prince should also understand their victories and defeats in those wars.

Machiavelli’s other points tie into war. One of his points dealt with being feared more then loved. One way to do this is to have a strong army. Other provinces won’t want to invade if they know they can’t win and the prince’s own people will not try anything either knowing the consequences. Another idea Machiavelli mentioned was don’t deprive your own people, plunder from others. The only way to plunder from others is to have a strong military. You need a lot of force to take from another province.

I agree with Machiavelli’s main point on having a strong military, however, it would not work as well today. Back then, a strong military was necessary for survival. Any province could be attacked without warning or if a province’s resources were declining then they would be forced to plunder from others. In today’s time, a strong military is still essential to defend your country; however, it is not used to plunder other countries daily. The president doesn’t go out hunting and learning the landscapes to better his military to gain power from the people. He tries to help the people directly and provide them their rights and freedoms to stay in power. Also, today’s presidents want to be loved by their people not feared. If people were afraid of the president, then the president would lose his power.

I found the overall article interesting because the way things have changed over the last 400-500 years. Instead of providing a strong military to gain power and respect from the people like princes did, presidents now try to provide equal rights and opportunities to the people to stay in power. A president’s power is limited while a prince’s power can last a long time if he is good at war and perceived as a great leader by his people. Also the aspect of plundering is different. A province would plunder from another province if they wanted to and had a good army, but countries nowadays trade when they need something from another country. Imagine if there was a war between two countries every time they need something. The world would be chaos.