Niccolo Machiavelli was born in Florence, on May 3rd, 1469. Machiavelli was alive during the time of the renaissance, the declared rebirth of learning, literature, art and culture – unfortunately, it was also a time of political instability for Italy. In spite of this, Machiavelli agreed to work for the the Signoria, Florence’s governing body at the time, and become the Second Chancellor of the Republic of Florence. Later, Machiavelli acquired a second job as Secretary to the Council of Ten for War. Although Machiavelli’s jobs involved domestic affairs, most of Machiavelli’s time was spent as an international diplomat, analyzing the true intentions and capacities of the various countries involved in the Italian Wars. Several years later, in 1512, Piero Soderini, the First Minister of Florence, was overthrown by the Medici family. In 1513, after being fired, jailed, tortured, and released, Machiavelli wrote and published De principatibus – or, The Prince. Machiavelli wrote The Prince as an advice book for Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence at the time, in the hopes that Lorenzo would offer him his job back (The Prince). Unfortunately, The Prince failed to win the favour of the Medici family, and it isolated him from the Florentine people. The Florentine Republic was reestablished fourteen years later, in 1527, and they deemed Machiavelli to be quite suspicious. Machiavelli died soon after, on June 21 (history.com). In the years that followed, many rulers admired The Prince and followed it’s content absolutely, while others completely ignored Machiavelli’s most famous publication and ruled on their own terms. An example of a particularly Machiavellian ruler was Ivan IV Vasilyevich. Ivan IV closely follows several aspects of Machiavelli’s advice in The Prince, especially the sections that relate to the military and war, methods of dealing with the nobility, and techniques of ruling.
Ivan IV followed Machiavelli’s The Prince very closely when it came to Russia’s military and wars. Just a couple of years after becoming Russia’s first tsar, Ivan IV made drastic changes to Russia’s military and it’s policies. He transformed and expanded the military while changing the chain of command, all based on Machiavelli’s writings. According to britannica.com, “The conditions of military service were improved…and the system of command altered so that commanders were appointed on merit rather than simply by virtue of their noble birth.” (Andreyev). The first purpose of these reforms was to render those serving in the military completely dependent on Ivan IV and the sovereignty. Ivan IV achieved this by compensating the service gentry with landed estates – an income-generating property that requires no work from the owner. This kept the soldiers forever indebted to Ivan IV, because they only made money as long as they had the property, leaving them unable to do anything but serve Ivan IV. Additionally, these houses were not very profitable, and they often left the owners in serious financial debt. The tsar allowed loans through gentry banks, leaving the soldiers again indebted to the sovereignty with their loans. The second purpose of these reforms was to limit the power of the hereditary aristocracy. By designating commanders based on their worthiness, rather than basing it on noble birth, Ivan IV took the power away from the nobles and dramatically altered the distribution of power in Russia’s controlling powers and their influence over the military. (Ivan IV’s methods of dealing with the nobles will be expanded on in the next paragraph.) Ivan IV’s edits to Russia’s military didn’t end with the refinement of the stipulations of service, and the changes to how commanders were nominated. dailyhistory.org states that Ivan IV also “introduce[d] western military technology into Russia and this was one of his greatest innovations” (Whedland). Ivan IV’s adoption of western technology allowed him to expand and strengthen his military. In turn, that tech allowed Ivan IV to advance in the several wars he engaged in throughout his time as the tsar of Russia. All of Ivan IV’s tactics regarding the transformation and expansion of his military relate back to a quote from The Prince: “…never remain idle in peaceful times, but industriously make good use of them, so that when fortune changes…[one will be] prepared to resist…blows and prevail in adversity” (Machiavelli 47). Machiavelli believed that rulers would absolutely be challenged during their lifetime, and in order to combat that, during times of nonviolence militarial strength and size should be increased. Otherwise, rulers would inevitably lose their power. Machiavelli’s writings and Ivan IV’s actions match up, as one of Ivan IV’s first actions as the tsar was editing the policies of his military, while also increasing Russia’s capacity for war. Although Ivan IV’s attempted military conquests proved to be fruitless and largely unsuccessful, Ivan IV’s did have a generation of soldiers that were loyal to him and the crown. Furthermore, Ivan IV actions and Machiavelli’s advice concerning the single-minded focus on war also aligned. Nikola Andreyev expresses that “Russia was at war for the greater part of Ivan’s reign” (britannica.com). Ivan IV’s main focus during his time as the first tsar of Russia was conquering other countries. During Ivan IV’s early time as the ruler, he launched several attacks against Kazan, a Turkic state in Russia, that ultimately failed. A couple of years later, Ivan IV, after extensive preparations, successfully defeated the town of Kazan, before also annexing Astrakhan four years later.