Nicole Machiavelli

Nicole was an Italian historian, politician and a writer. He was also humanitarian. He was born in 1469 in Florencia Italy. He is known as the father of modern political science and ethics in the politics. He became very famous when he was an official in the government of Florentine. He was in charge of the diplomatic and military affairs in that government. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs and poems. His famous book in 1513 was known as ‘The Prince’. This book advocated for rulers to be harsh to their enemies and where necessary their subjects. At that time, the enemy of Florencia was the France. Many readers did not take the content of the book lightly. They felt that it was encouraging brutality and deviousness. This explains why the word Machiavelli is associated with cruelty.

Achievements of Nicole Machiavelli

He was appointed the head of government documents production a short while after the Florencia government was restored from the hands of the Medici family. He brought success to the Florencia military when he was in charge of it between 1503 and 1506. He had concern for the performance of the military more than any other military leader before him. This was evident when Machiavelli bravely came out to point out the unpatriotic and unreliability of the Florencia army. He took a brave step of laying off some individuals from the military and replacing them with citizens who had no training in the military. To him, loyalty was more important when going or wars than training. Surprisingly, this step bore fruits. The Florencia citizen soldiers brought home many successes. However, the success was not long lasting as that army was defeated in 1512 in a war with Medici. It is at that point that Machiavelli lost his office in the military as Florencia was dissolved. To make matters worse, he was imprisoned in 1512 by the Medici as they claimed that he planned conspiracy against them. It is after his release that he retired to a home and dedicated his life to studying and writing. His writings are an excellent source of knowledge in political philosophy and conduct.

Critics of Nicole Machiavelli

Some scholars doubt the consistency of Nicole in his work. They argue that he is not consistent with his ideas in his books with some contradicting others. Some feel that he put his ideas down depending on the times that he was going through therefore leaving questions on which circumstances each design should be used.