R Shaw - Machiavelli Mindset: How To Conquer Your Enemies, Achieve Audacious Goals & Live Without Limits From The Prince

Who is Machiavelli?

Niccol Machiavelli was a politician, philosopher, and a diplomat from Renaissance Italy. He was also an author and a humanist who penned songs, poems and, of course, his greatest work, the Prince. Many regard him as the father of modern political science.

Niccol Machiavelli was born at the same time that Lorenzo Il Magnifico de Medici rose into power (1469). While the people of Florence liked to believe that no one man ruled them, the powerful Medici family have been pulling the strings behind the curtains for years and years. Lorenzo de Medici merely had to carry on the work that his ancestors had set into motion.

The kind of Italy that Machiavelli grew up in was filled with culture and sophistication, a world where art, science and literature flourished. Italy was then the center of intellectual accomplishment and this drew in scholars and artists from various parts of Europe. At that time, everyone wanted to be in, live in and bask in Italy.

This era was also a time of great religious change. The Catholic Church was growing more and more corrupt and depraved and the behavior of the notorious Pope Alexander VI did not help at all. The people were growing more and more hostile towards Catholic authority. During that period, the Protestant movement in the Holy Roman Empire was growing stronger. There was also a great deal of change developing in politics.

The feudal territories were gradually being brought together under one central leadership. This instigated the formation of the present-day European nations. At this period, the contemporary concept of the state was already at its embryonic stage. During that time when nations were being combined, war was considered as the most treasured tool of a ruler.

In 1492, Il Magnifico died and the power was handed over to his inept successor, Piero. The end of Piero de Medici marked the beginning of the Republic of Florence. The trouble all began when Ludovico Sfroza, Duke of Milan, allowed French forces into Italy. In exchange for the Venetian territory, he offered to support the claims of the French over Naples (which was a separate kingdom then). Power was ceased from the Medici family in 1494 when the French, led by King Charles the Eighth stormed in with their troops.

Florence was then led by a republican government. It didnt take a year, though, before good old Charlie was driven out by the Italian coalition. The great irony was that Sfroza himself joined in the league. Even so, it did not escape Machiavellis keen observation that the French king was able to conquer Italy with almost no effort at all. For several years, Machiavelli served as a senior official in the Florentine Republic where he handled foreign relations and military undertakings.

Many years later, King Louis of France worked with Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia, to conquer the Romagna region. You need to understand that popes at that time were not kindly old men with bald heads who appeared in crowds and kissed babies. Sure, they were extremely religious. That said, they had money. They had power, and more often than not, they abused that power. They could mobilize armies and hoist their illegitimate sons into the seat of command, pretty much like what Pope Alexander did with his son, Cesare Borgia.