The Prince

The Prince is a 16th-century political treatise written by the Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli & published on 1532 AD. The descriptions within The Prince have the general theme of accepting that the aims of princes - such as glory and survival - can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends.Machiavelli had written his work for Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino.Machiavelli believes that a prince's main focus should be on perfecting the art of war. He believes that by taking this profession an aspiring prince will be able to acquire a state, and will be able to maintain what he has gained.Machiavelli advises that a prince should carefully calculate all the wicked deeds he needs to do to secure his power, and then execute them all in one stroke. In this way, his subjects will slowly forget his cruel deeds and the prince can better align himself with his subjects.