Machiavelli’s The Prince: Examples of Machiavellian Leaders

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Arguably, the most Machiavellian leader to ever exist would be Joseph Stalin. He abided by three major Machiavellian methods that were stated in the Prince: the ends justifies the means, crush any opposition, and displaying a false character. Stalin had a plan for Russia and did everything in his power to achieve that plan. He wanted to transform Russia into a industrial superpower, a military superpower, and a political superpower. To achieve his goals he committed many horrible crimes against humanity. To be more specific, Stalin killed more than sixty million people during his reign. He was a selfish cold-blooded, heart less, and evil leader; human life was nothing to him. What caused him to develop such evil traits? It all started from his childhood. Born in Georgia in 1879 to a poor and highly chaotic family, Joseph Stalin did not have a easy childhood. Throughout his childhood, Stalin always felt inferior to other educated people; as a result, he grew a hate towards them. Surprisingly, at a young age Stalin was given a opportunity to study to be a priest, but later was expelled and joined a variety of radical revolutionary circles, particularly Marxist groups. Stalin then joined the central committee in 1912. After the October Revolution of 1917, Stalin entered the Soviet cabinet as a people’s commissar. Displaying excellent leadership skill, Stalin was elected general secretary of the committee. Lenin, the current leader at the time, died, which presented a great opportunity for Stalin. As Stalin started to build momentum, he allied with Bukharin and betrayed his past friends Kamenev and Zinoviev. They attempted to derail Stalin’s rise to power but failed miserably. To strengthen his power, Stalin did what The Prince taugh...

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... such as harshly suppressing any form of opposition, governing outside of moral boundaries, and possessing complete control. These three reasons alone nullifies any possible advantages to using Machiavelli’s techniques.

The Prince has had a negative influence because of his teachings and beliefs, past Machiavellianism, and modern Machiavellianism. The fact that Machiavelli has had a negative influence on history and society matters to everyone. Through the Prince, Machiavelli has influenced and promoted many of the horrific actions that have been taken by many oppressive and evil rulers throughout history. Although, evil leaders have existed well before the publication of the Prince, Machiavelli does not condemn them, but instead he advocates them. He then make it worst by making it easy for any one to follow. Machiavelli added wood to an already massive fire.

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