Machiavelli's Theory Of The State.

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Machiavelli’s Theory Of The State

Sandra Butt

Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 the son of a doctor of law. His family were relatively wealthy and held a prominent position in public office but his father was debarred from any office due to being classed as an insolvent debtor and this meant Machiavelli’s education suffered. His father had a large library and Machiavelli taught himself by reading the books his father had at home, this was said to have “Preserved the originality of his thought” by saving him from the faults and excesses of humanistic erudition.

Florence had always regarded itself as a republic, however the Medici family who where a wealthy and prominent banking family dominated Florence for most of the 15 century. With the Medici in power Florence was an oligarch state and Machiavelli tried to gain favour with them although he had no respect for them and their way of ruling went against his ideas at that time.

   Machiavelli’s theory of the state to make Florence as strong as possible by: uniting the people and their customs under the rule of a single Prince; to be a great leader; to make Florence as strong as possible against intrusion of foreigners as Europe was in a state of war and turmoil, with Italy a divided country which was constantly at war with Europe. Machiavelli believed that the strength of the state would be in it self-sufficiency and the Citizens preference for good and patriotism and the state should be based on Raison D`etat not Christian mortality or private conscience.

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   Machiavelli was greatly influenced by the 1499 military scandal when the Florentines unsuccessfully tried to capture Pisa with mercenary troops, the leader of the mercenary army was a man called Vitelli who called off the attack the Florentines called Vitelli a traitor and he was executed and as a result Machiavelli believed that mercenary troops should not be trusted and that all states should be self sufficient and protected by their own army. So therefore he believed that a princes duty is to be a soldier and create an army.

At the age of 29 Machiavelli was ...

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