EL PRINCIPEPoints from “The Prince” by Niccolò

MachiavelliBy Hanuman

Durina

June 22, 2012

content

principalities

Machiavelli states that there are two types of principalities:

Hereditary

principalities

Recently established

principalities

five mistakes

Machiavelli states that there are five mistakes one must not make to hold a country under one’s control, and are as follows:

Eliminating the lesser powers

Giving more power to those with already a great deal of power

Introducing a powerful Foreigner

Not making a home there

Not making colonies there

Any of these could lead to destruction

old Laws

To govern a state with old laws and rules, one must establish an oligarchy and be able to hold it until the memories of the old laws and rules dies.

wickedness

To rule through wickedness one can either:

To conquer a supreme empire one must

eliminate the ruler and councilors, and

please the citizens with gifts.

To conquer a kingdom divided into parts

and held by barons, one must convince

Baron by Baron and use them against the

ruler, but it is hard to control.

strength

To judge the

strength of a

province, you must

see how long it could

hold out under siege.

mercenaries

Employing

mercenaries is

dangerous because they

often have little incentive

and will not do what is

best for you, but what is

best for them.

allys’ troops

Using an ally’s troops is very dangerous because even if you win, you may be ridiculed, or taken over by you allies. However, if you lose it will be a double loss.

good and bad qualities for a

ruler: Good Bad