Overview

1
Overview

• Machiavelli opens the Prince by describing the
  two principal types of governments Monarchies
  and Republics
• He focused on monarchies
• Most controversial aspects are in chapters 15
  through 19

2
Chapter 15

• Describes what is necessary for surviving as a
  monarch.
• Virtues we think a prince should have.
• Courage
• Compassion
• Faith
• Craftiness
• Generosity
• He concludes by saying some virtues will lead to
  a princes downfall.

3
Chapter 16

• Talks about the benefit of a prince having a good
  reputation of being generous.
• If it is done in secret, he will be thought to be
  greedy
• If it is done in the open he risks going broke.
• He will then need more money and eventually be
  hated.

• For Machiavelli it is best for a prince to have a
  reputation of being stingy.
• He concludes that generosity should only be shown
  to soldiers

4
Chapter 17

• Machiavelli argues that it is better for a prince
  to be severe when punishing people rather than
  merciful.
• Severity through death sentences affects only a
  few, but it deters crimes which affects many.
• He argues that it is better to be feared than to
  be loved.
• However he clearly states that a prince should
  avoid being hated.
• The best way to do it is by never confiscating
  property.

5
Chapter 18

• Perhaps the most controversial chapter of the
  Prince, which argues that the prince should know
  how to be deceitful when it suits him.
• However, he must never appear that way.

• A prince should always exhibit the following five
  virtues
• Mercy
• Honesty
• Humaneness
• Uprightness
• Religiousness

6
Chapter 19

• Machiavelli argues that the prince must avoid
  doing things which will cause him to be hated.
• Avoiding hatred form his people can be
  accomplished by not appearing greedy or unsure of
  himself.
• In fact the best way to avoid being overthrown is
  to avoid being hated.

7
Machiavelli
8
Hitler

• Propaganda methods were influenced by The Prince
  and Karl Lueger.
• What emerged was Hitlers National Socialism
• The German Reich had better prepared soil for
  anti-democratic traditions.
• Was never a Socialist or a man of the left, was
  completely unknown until 1919 when he became an
  agitator for the Reichswehr (army).
• Unlike Mussolini he was a man of only one idea
• Anti-Semitism went far beyond the writings he
  followed. It became an obsession.
• The Jewish problem was no longer political,
  religious or economic, it became an all
  encompassing obsession.
• Two pillars encompassed his theory.
• His book Mein Kampf became the bible of the new
  faith.

9
Hitler

• The other pillar was the conquering of vast lands
  in eastern Europe.
• From this Germany would become a geopolitical
  unassailable Reich.
• These two ideas remained with Hitler throughout
  his conquest of Europe and until his death.
• There was no parallel to Mussolinis writings.

• Hitler did not glorify war, but did present a pan
  for aggressive war.
• Before his suicide he repeated his fundamental
  interpretation of history Above all, I demand
  of the nations leaders and followers scrupulous
  adherence to the race laws and to ruthless
  resistance against the world poisoners of all
  peoples, international Jewry.

10
Connection

• Hitler paralleled Machiavelli on various
  accounts. With his invasion of France and Russia
  you have a similarity with Napoleon.
• He was reclaiming land that was originally
  German. With his invasion of Russia he
  committed the same mistake as Napoleon.
• The art of propaganda helped Hitler tremendously.
  He held speeches for the public in order to get
  them interested in the war effort.
• He was private citizen that rose power due to
  others because he was able to convince the masses
  that he was their savior from the corruption they
  had suffered.

11
Benito Mussolini

• Mussolini knew what it took to become a dictator.
• He had the ability to use people and make himself
  appear like a God in a society.
• He knew that the support of the Italians had to
  be gained and hoped that WWI would lead to a
  collapse of society that would then bring him to
  power.
• He threatened to make Italy ungovernable through
  violence until he was promoted Prime Minister.
• Knowing how to make the voting class forget about
  the strength they had, he made Italy a strong
  fascist state that stood behind him.

12
Mussolinis Tactics

• Propaganda was his main gift He knew how to use
  the media to promote fascism.
• He made everyone feel dependent on him or they
  would be killed otherwise.
• Taking advantage of political, social, and
  economic crisis in Italy, he placed himself in
  the position of unchallenged authority.
• He wanted complete control of everything to
  become the ultimate dictator.

13
Mussolini
14
Connection

• Machiavellis Philosophy
• The purpose of government is not the good of the
  people but the stability of the state and the
  rulers control.
• People are by nature changeable. It is easy to
  persuade them about some particular matter, but
  it is hard to hold them to that persuasion.
  (Chapter VI)

• Mussolinis Philosophy
• A struggle for strength and power and for the
  progression of the state.
• Our program is simple. We wish to govern Italy.
  They ask us for programs, but there are already
  too many. It is not programs that are wanting for
  the salvation of Italy but men and will power.
  (Mussolini)

15
Juan Domingo Peron

• Took over the department of labor in 1943
• Peronistas a new political group
• Peron elected president in 1946
• Pro-labor
• Pro-nationalistPresident of Argentina from
  1946-1955 and from 1973-1974

16
Peron

• Overthrown in 1955
• Exile
• Kept influence in Argentine politics
• Retained labor support
• Elected president in 1973
• Died in 1974

17
The Connection

• Peron totally transformed the Dept. of Labor
  before becoming president by enacting new laws,
  creating new syndicates and weakening the
  influence of left-wing parties.

• Machiavelli believed that if you were going to
  change something in order to use it to your
  advantage, you should make all the changes needed
  at once in a radical, aggressive manner.

18
The Connection

• The Peronistas was a new political group that
  campaigned with the most oppressed sections of
  the agricultural and industrial working class in
  order to have Peron elected president.

• Machiavelli believed one should do anything to
  reach ones objective even if it meant creating a
  whole new political group for ones benefit.

19
The Connection

• During Perons presidency his philosophy was
  pro-labor and pro-nationalist because the
  majority of the population was of a working class.

• Machiavelli believed in keeping the people happy
  and in being loved by the people.

20
Conclusion

• To this day Peron has been the most influential
  and loved president Argentina has ever had.