Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian politician and political philosopher
who is thought to be the founder of modern political science. He is most
popular for his work The Prince in which he explains that the route to a
successful reign is through deception or to whatever means to get the job
done. Machiavelli's concepts were considered amoral but he believed that
these rules could be portrayed by the political practices of his time and those
Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1469. He was
raised in a family of nobility and received good education in Latin classics. In
1494, Machiavelli became a clerk under Marcello Virgillo Adriani and in 1498,
he succeeded him and became a secretary when the Florentine Republic was
proclaimed. He served on 30 diplomatic missions while reorganizing and
supervising the military operations of the republic. In 1512, when the republic
collapsed and the Medici ruling family regained power. Machiavelli was
suspected of plotting a conspiracy against them. Thus, he was tortured and
sentenced to prison. After his release, he became indigent and devoted his
time to writing where some of his most important works were written but did
not receive fame until they were published posthumously. These works were
his attempts to gain favor with the Medici rulers for a favorable and eminent
government position, but his attempts failed. On June 21, 1527, Machiavelli
died in Florence during the time when the republic was temporarily put back in
Machiavelli's works included Vita di Castruccio Castracani (1520), Dell'
arte della guerra (Oh the Art of War, 1521), Mandragola (The Mandrake,
1524), Istoria Fiorentine (History Of Florentine, 1525), Discourses Upon Livy
(1531), and his most famous work Il principe (The Prince, 1532).
Throughout his life, Machiavelli questioned the relationship between
the citizens and th...