General Introduction

Life and Literary Works:

The Renaissance period was marked by a number of major changes in the political and military affairs of Western Europe. Some of these changes were the product of slow developmental processes which had been at work in Europe during the Middle Ages. But during the early Renaissance the tempo of change became more rapid. The age must have seemed a revolutionary one to a sensitive individual living in fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy.

Such a man was Niccolo Machiavelli. He was born on 3 May 1469 and grew up in the Florence of the Medici and Savonorola. Three of the most dramatic events of his youth were the death of Lorenzo de Medici on 8 April 1492, the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII in 1494, and the death of Savonorola on 23 May 1498. In addition of course the more distant discoveries by the period's active explorers must have caused their share of excitement.
He joined the civil service under the republican regime of Piero Soderini in 1498. He served as Secretary to the Ten of Liberty and Peace, was secretary to the Nine for Militia and Second Chancellor of the city. While in office he went on man diplomatic missions, including posts in France, Germany, and Rome. His duties placed him at the center of political affairs in Florence, where he had ample opportunity to observe from the inside the tortuous machinations that then characterized Italian politics.

The two critical experiences of Florentine political life at that time were the siege of Pisa( 1496-1509) and the attempt to prevent the return of the Medici to power. Due to his almost single-handed creation of the Florentine Militia, Machiavelli was deeply involved in the successful completion of the former and the disastrous failure of the latter.

With the return of the Medici in 1512, Machiavelli was dismissed from office, tortured, and exiled to his ancestral home outside the city walls. there he tried to satisfy his interest in politics by continuing his study of the classics. he was not content with the life of a secluded scholar, however, and attempted repeatedly to regain some position in the Florentine government. His main avenue of approach to the ruling powers was by writing a number of books designed to bring himself to their attention. his most important political works were The Prince, 1513; The Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, 1513-1518; The Discourse on the War with Pisa, 1498; Report on the Fortifications of Florence, 1526; The Life of Castruccio Castracani, 1520; The Art of War, 1517-1520; Discourse on the Reform of the Government of Florence, 1519; and The History of Florence, 1520-1525. In addition, he wrote several literary works: Mandragola, a very successful play; Clizia, an adaptation from Plautus; Belfagor, a novel; A Discourse on Language; and several poems such as On Ambition, The first Decade, and Ass of Gold. Writing in an age when letter writing was a highly polished art, his dispatches, both official and private also stand out as masterpieces.

Machiavelli's efforts were successful in obtaining for himself several minor diplomatic missions and a consulting role in the improvement of the city fortifications during the emergency occasioned by the approach of Charles V's army. He had just earned enough favor with the Medici, however, to arouse the suspicion of the republican party that regained power in the wake of Charles' victory over the pope.. Machiavelli applied for reinstatement in the republican government but was turned down. Mercifully, he did not live to realize this, however, but died peacefully at home on 22 June 1527.

Renaissance man strove to achieve immortality through his deeds. While Machiavelli's political career was much more extensive than that of the great majority of political theorists, it was not in such an exalted position as to achieve for him the fame he sought. His books, however, far transcend in value the purpose for which they were created and have earned for him even more renown as an epochal political theorists than he could have possibly hoped. Indeed, he is frequently considered to be the first modern political theorist.

The military side of Machiavelli's career is less well known. It is clear that he dealt largely with military affairs while in office. He had, in fact, more practical experience with military matters than many military theorists.

While considerable attention has been focused on Machiavelli as a political theorists, especially in recent times, those portions of his writing concerning military theory have also been relatively less studied by modern critics. The few who have dealt with this aspect of Machiavelli's work differ widely in their evaluations. J. H. Whitfield puts The Art of War aside as a mere echo of Vegetius. Frederick Taylor, however, notes that Machiavelli has an important place in the history of military theory and comments that "Machiavelli is the first secular writer to attempt to allot to the practice of arms its place among the collective activities of mankind, to define its aims, and to regard it as a means to an end." Earle included Machiavelli in his Makers of Modern Strategy. Probably the most thorough analysis of the interrelationship between military and political theory in Machiavelli's thought was made by Neal Wood in his introduction to The Art of War. In any case, it is clear that The Art of War is the first full scale modern attempt to revive classical military thought.

In addition to being the first modern political and military theorist, Machiavelli is a superb prose stylist. his writing has been praised by Macauley, and T. S. Eliot. His play, Mandragola, is considered the finest play in the Italian language. His essay, On Language, is one of the first to contain the principles of the science of semantics. Recently management theorists have become increasingly aware that Machiavelli anticipated them also in developing precepts for action applicable to the problems confronting business executives.

Machiavelli's Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy contains the fundamental modern treatise on political expansion. It is a n indispensable work for the interpretation of subsequent theories of expansion advanced by Hobbes and Burke. It is often assumed that Hobbes was Machiavelli's disciple and that Burke opposed Machiavelli's teachings. ON the contrary, Burke and Machiavelli stand together as patriotic, liberal, and "imperialist" philosophers against the anti-imperialist Hobbes, who, despairing of the unpredictable forces of liberty and patriotism, left his Leviathan virtually defenseless and incapable of expansion. The study of imperialism considered as a political phenomenon should be based on the theories of Machiavelli and Burke. They agree that the conquering force and the imperial capacity of any state is determined primarily by its constitutional arrangements: further, that a liberal constitution is an excellent foundation for an empire, as well as the least impractical domestic system. As the supreme object of empire is lasting fame, a liberal state is well constituted to seek such gratitude in return for extending its own system. Aware of the dangers inherent in imperial rule, Machiavelli and Burke both warn against arrogance, avarice, and rule by terror.

Sources:

Machiavelli drew on two sources for his theories the military history and practice of contemporary Europe, especially Italy; and the military history and practice of ancient world, especially the Roman Republic.

The Italian condotierri had long since established schools of warfare in which they sought to study and develop both strategy and tactics. The international character of armies aided the dissemination of information about the latest developments in warfare during this revolutionary period. As an avid student of the art, Machiavelli no doubt questioned every leader he met and engaged in constant discussion of military affairs. One of the scenes of his discussions was the Rucelli Gardens, where the Orti Oricellari met and in which locale The Art of War is laid. he uses the distinguished condoterri, Fabrizio Colonna, as his mouthpiece in this work. In the Orti Oricellari group he came in contact with several leaders who were interested in military affairs, among them Francesco Vettori, Luigi Alamonni, Zanobi Buondelmonti, Donato Giannetti, and Benedetto Varchi.

At the siege of Pisa, Machiavelli had contact with Paolo and Vitellozzo Vitelli, tow noted condoterri captains, and with the Florentines, Giovani Batista Ridolfi, Luca Degli Albizzi, and Antonio Giacomini, all of whom were interested in military affairs. Problems of a military nature were clearly of primary importance at this time. The question of militia versus condoterri was especially pressing. The use of militia involved becoming expert in the rest of the art of war. It is not possible to determine how much or what Machiavelli learned from these contacts, but he must have been influenced to some degree. On the other hand, his books are polemical and much of his attention is devoted to refuting arguments presumably held by his contemporaries, so that perhaps their influence was mostly negative.

If Machiavelli's debt to Florentine writers and specific military leaders of his acquaintance is unclear, his literary debts to the ancient Romans are quite apparent. He obtained his knowledge of Roman military practice from his extensive reading of the classical authors. He grew up and was educated in a city noted as a center of the revival of learning and had available a wide selection of contemporary editions of the classics. Father Walker, in his notes to the Discourses, has given a thorough discussion of the sources and possible sources of this work. The list reads like a catalog of classical historical literature. In particular, Machiavelli relied on Livy, Xenophon, Vegetius, Tacitus, Thucydides, Polybius, Cicero, Frontinus, Aelian, Sallust, Diodorus Siculus, and Plutarch.

Method:

Machiavelli, in Prince Chapt 15 claims to depart from the method of other writers, who have created imaginary republics. His argument is that:

  1. he is concerned with the discovery of truth and not the construction of ideal states:
  2. that he is not concerned with what the moralists say ought to be done, but with what is really done

In the Discourses, Preface, Book I, he repeats his claim and says his method is different from that of any other writer, as new as the discovery of America.

To see if his claim is valid, let us consider the main features of his method. his most important work is the Discourses. The main content of this book is comment on material taken from the first ten books of Titus Livy's History of Rome. These books discuss Roman history from Rome's foundation in 753BC to 293BC. Thus Livy covers the period during which Rome's constitution, institutions, and empire were formed.

Rome is Machiavelli's favorite example because it established the greatest and most lasting empire due to the "Virtu" of its citizens. Machiavelli notes three reasons for this success:

  1. The Roman Constitution;
  2. Roman military organization
  3. the "virtu" of Rome's outstanding men.

Therefore, the Discourses is divided into three books, one corresponding in subject matter to each of these topics. Since most of the outstanding men were generals and the most important aspect of the constitution for Machiavelli was its ability to generate military power, military affairs dominate the book. Some 45 chapters being devoted to this topic. Machiavelli's method in each book is to go through Livy in chronological order, selecting important events relating to the topic. He uses these incidents as the basis for one or more theorems. Many of these theorems are themselves quotations from Livy's own comments on the events he is narrating. In fact, Machiavelli's whole philosophy and outlook is almost identical with that of the Roman historian. The Discourses reveal the influence of another Roman (Greek) historian, Polybius. A comparison of Book VI of Polybius' History with the first 15 chapters of Book I, Discourses, shows an almost point by point similarity in their discussions of the Roman constitution.

Machiavelli himself urges the student to study history for its practical value. But what is it that gives a practical value to history? He sees history as a laboratory for the study of human psychology. His basic propositions are that history is a record of individual human activity. Political activity is activity of individual leaders or groups of individuals. People act because of motivations. Motives are the causes for the effects one sees in history. His works are filled with such words as ambition, avarice, virtue, envious, blame, praise, approbation, wisdom, imitated, weakness, indolence, necessity, vicious, ingrate, just, courage, disgust, revenge, cupidity, ambition and the like.

What he seeks are laws of cause and effect of universal validity. He is therefore especially interested in proving the universality of his theorems. To do this he adds to the original citation from Livy, other examples drawn from his memory of other historical literature and from current events.

The method used in the Prince is similar except in two respects;

  1. There is no basic incident from Livy's History.
  2. In the Discourses most of the chapter titles are themselves the theorems (100 out of 142), while in the Prince only chapter 19 is headed by a theorem.

In structure The Prince comes in four parts. Chapters 1 to 11 are a discussion of the types of states (principalities) classified by the manner in which they were created, organized and governed. There is evidence that this was the original work and was titled "On Principalities". Chapters 12 to 14 are a discussion of military affairs, in particular the militia. This can be considered a special plea for Machiavelli's favorite organization. Chapters 15 through 19 are a catalog of the real virtues needed by a prince. These are the chapters that stand in such sharp contrast to the humanist literature, not to mention the medieval literature, which preceded Machiavelli. Chapters 20 to 25 are further comments on psychological factors. Finally, Chapter 26 is a patriotic exhortation, which some commentators believe was added as an afterthought.

The use of ancient and modern examples is the same and each chapter develops one or more theorems. The Prince is actually one of a very extensive type of literature, the book of advice to a monarch, called "mirror of princes" literature. This literature was widespread during the middle ages and was developed by the humanist writers of the early Renaissance. To the abstract theories of the medieval writers they added historical examples. They attempted to provide new justifications for the legitimacy of rulers by focusing on the ethical problems facing rulers. Machiavelli consciously sought to refute the humanists while copying their literary form. Even the dedication to the Medici is a copy of Isocrates address to Nicocles, a standard stylistic formula of the period.

In writing the Art of War, Machiavelli followed tradition even more carefully in respect to format. In fact, he copied the organization paragraph by paragraph (and much of the opinion also) from the most influential military work of the Western world, The De Re Militari of Vegetius. However, Machiavelli adds his comparative method to the Roman's format, this time by comparing Greek and Roman military technique with contemporary Swiss, French, Italian and Spanish techniques. He combines all these to develop his plan for the ideal military organization. Further, he includes a detailed example of a hypothetical battle not found in De Re Militari but similar to a description in Xenophon's Cyropaedia. Also included are a description of an encampment from Polybius, stratagems from Frontinus, and drill orders from Aelian Tacticus. The book is written in dialogue form, a common Renaissance genre. The introduction contains a discussion of the connection between civil and military affairs. The Topic of Book I is the recruitment of militia; Book II is on arming, organizing and training the army; Book III describes an ideal battle; in Book IV are found tactics, planning, stratagems, and generalship; Book V is on the march; Book VI on encampment, provisioning and troop welfare; and Book Vii is on defense and attack of towns and fortifications.

The formulation of generalizations and maxims is an important part of Machiavelli's method. These maxims express or imply a relation between cause and effect and imply an end (purpose) for the action involved, namely success. The generalization can be converted into a maxim by reference to an end. His generalizations therefore lead to different maxims for different people having different ends. Thus he advises at the same time republicans and princes, those in and out of power, those sup porting and attempting to overthrow governments. He does not give advice to tyrants because he likes tyranny, but advises everyone because his maxims are universally applicable.

According to Father Leslie Walker, who presents his detailed analysis of Machiavelli's work in the edition of the Discourses he edited, M's method involves several propositions.

  1. He looks to history for an incident likely to recur and observes its consequences; or having noted a consequence, he looks for the cause.
  2. He inquires further, whether there are any other similar instances in history, especially in modern times.
  3. He formulates a generalization of, A often or always or sometimes follows B.
  4. He looks for negative instances, i.e. B but no A.
  5. He observes whether the result in question was beneficial to the party concerned and then states the maxim that the course of action should be followed or avoided.
  6. He judges the precepts of moralists as to their results in like manner and accepts or rejects them depending on their consequences.

Father Walker notes that this is the inductive method. It can be found in the works of no previous writer. It was Machiavelli, not Francis Bacon, who invented this method. Bacon was actually a careful student of Machiavelli and the first to apply Machiavelli's method to the realm of natural science. Thus Machiavelli's contention is valid.

Axioms:

Machiavelli was not a philosopher or logician. Many of his main generalizations are mentioned in passing while discussing other topics. Some of the most important axioms are as follows:

  1. Both physical bodies and political bodies are ever in process of transformation, analogous one to the other. Hence it is possible to formulate laws descriptive of processes in each area.
  2. Similar causes give rise to similar effects
  3. There exist similar causes and similar effects.
  4. Similar causes in dissimilar circumstances may not give rise to similar effects.
  5. Similar effects may be due to dissimilar or even contrary causes.
  6. Dissimilar effects are not due to the same cause.
  7. A given effect may be due to a plurality of causes, such that, if any one is lacking the effect will not ensue.
  8. In certain cases, the causes are so complex that it is impossible to determine which effect will result; but the most one can do is calculate probabilities.


Influence:

An exposition of the influence of Machiavelli on the development of military theory and practice is an essay in itself. The best and actually only such essay is Neal Wood's introduction to The Art of War. The development of the modern army by Maurice and Gustavus Adolphus was based on Machiavelli as was the development of the first regiments in the French Army. The Art of War was his first work published in English, whereby it was influential in Elizabethan England. Montecuculi, Frederick the Great, Saxe, Guibert, Napoleon I, Clausewitz, Marx and Engles are a few among those who studied and were influenced by Machiavelli. That he is relatively unknown to contemporary American military leaders is due to their general neglect of philosophy, history and things theoretical. In the Soviet Union, however, The Art of War was published by the state military department publishing house in 1939 with an introduction which urged that all officers of the Red Army should read Machiavelli to learn essentials of the theory of war.


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