What Are The Main Lessons Which Machiavelli Thinks History Can Teach Us About The Life Of States?

Introduction

Nicocolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) lived in a politically turbulent time. In the 14th until the early 16th Century wars in northern Italy dominated the lives of people. Similar to the 30-year war in Germany in the 17th Century (1618-1648), contributed the major European powers in the 15th and 16 Century their struggles Northitalian on the ground. Here, the French Savoy fought against the Austrian / Spanish Habsburgs. In addition, the emperor tried to assert his superior claims to power as the supreme secular authority. At the same time, the papacy became more and more entangled in the worldly struggles. In this period also witnessed a development which is called the decline of the popes of the superior spiritual authority of the Italian province of Prince 1: cardinals and even popes have been bought by Italy's leading families, a system that was ended by the Reformation and Counter Reformation (Skinner, p. 1-87). Florence, the home of Machiavelli, and other northern Italian city-states became the playthings of the European power struggles. After a period of economic advancement and associated developments in art, culture and science were the two city-states of the European victims of these developments. But with the serious upheavals were also associated central changes in world view of people. So they put the divine order of things and pondered for a question on ancient ideas about people and the forms of human coexistence. Thus, a fundamental understanding of the state-converted was the result of this time (Skinner, p. 1-87).

By the beginning of the XVI century, Italy was a country with strong tendencies polycentricism. The Apennine peninsula there were more than a dozen of independent states, the largest of which was the Duchy of Milan, Venice and Florence Republic, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. Italian land with well-developed economies, as well as a thriving city, carried out the successful trade in the Mediterranean, became the object of attention of neighboring countries. First, it was France and then Spain. Strong European powers joined in the struggle for the possession of rich land, wanting to get as much of the "Italian pie." The first half of the XVI century left their mark in the history of Italy. The situation aggravated the political fragmentation which contributed to the aggressive wars. Various attempts to combat this situation, the basis of which, as a rule, it was making temporary alliances. Yesterday's enemies become friends and vice versa. Political life "was in full swing," and it was hard to keep up with events taking place at breakneck speed (Skinner, p. 1-87).

Yet, such attempts have been made. He was the most advanced figures of his time trying to understand the political situation and to answer key questions. One of the most eminent writers has tried to comprehend the frightening reality Niccolo Machiavelli was a Florentine. Machiavelli took an active part in political life, was a supporter of Republican rule, and did ...