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 major political instability for Italy. In spite of this, Machiavelli agreed to work for Florence’s governing body at the time, the Signoria, 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 released De principatibus – translated as The Prince. Machiavelli wanted to be reemployed by the Florentine government, so he wrote The Prince as advice for Florence’s ruler at the time, Lorenzo de’ Medici, in the hopes that Lorenzo would offer him his job back upon reading the pamphlet (Lotherington). Unfortunately, The Prince failed to win the favour of the Medici family, and it isolated him from the Florentine people. Fourteen years later, on May 16, 1527, the Florentine Republic was reestablished, and Machiavelli died soon after, on June 21 (history.com). However, in 1533, The Prince was officially published. 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 ruled Russia from 1547 to 1584, and he closely follows several aspects of Machiavelli’s writings in The Prince, especially the sections that relate to methods of dealing with the nobility, techniques of dealing with people, and tactics in regards to military and war.
In The Prince, Machiavelli wrote about how the nobility should be treated, and Ivan IV’s actions in regards to Russia’s nobility can be traced back to these writings. Machiavelli explains that “…from hostile nobles…[a ruler] has to fear not only desertion but their active opposition” (Machiavelli 32). Machiavelli knew that if the nobility were the enemies of the ruling class, then their struggle for power would inevitably lead to one of two things: abandonment or resistance from the nobles. Ivan recognized that Russia’s nobles were not agreeable towards him, so in order to gain their loyalty, he forced it by reducing their authority, thereby taking away their options and requiring their obedience. Firstly, Ivan limited the nobles power through his edits to the terms of military service and the process of choosing commanders. As explained by 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 purpose of this was to limit the power of the nobility. Ivan IV accomplished this by appointing worthy soldiers as commanders of the military, instead of the nobles. Consequently, the nobles had less power because they had a lower status in the military. Secondly, Ivan IV decreased the noble’s power through landed estates. Landed estates are income-generated properties that requires no work from the owner. Instead of giving the nobles estates all in the same area, Ivan IV split the land across Russia, dividing up their relative strength and ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to challenge him. As stated by eiu.edu, in a venture to further reduce the noble’s influence, Ivan IV created “a new Royal Law Code, the судебник…the new Code circumscribed many of the powers of the [nobles]” (Carswell). Essentially, Ivan’s new laws decreased the dominance of Russia’s nobility, while also penalizing those guilty of abuse of power. Ivan hoped that by taking away the noble’s influence Russia, they would not be able to leave or fight him, and if they attempted to, they would have been found of breaking of the law. However, Ivan must have felt that these measures did not achieve their purpose, as later in his time as the tsar, Ivan IV reduced the strength of Russia’s nobles in a more aggressive way – an oprichnina. An oprichnina is an area of land that is controlled separately from the rest of the country by the sovereignty. As reported by britannica.com, Ivan IV’s plan behind the oprichnina was to “destroy the economic strength and political power of the… high nobility” (Andreyev). Ivan IV created a 1,000 – 6,000 men squad of bodyguards, called the oprichniki, to supervise Ivan IV’s carefully selected oprichninas. The oprichniki presided over the oprichninas with impunity, and walked over everyone, except those in Ivan’s immediate circle, including the nobility, and innocent citizens. The oprichninas were eventually shut down after seven years, because they prevented the oprichniki from defending against attackers, leaving Russia vulnerable (britannica.com). Ivan’s second attempt to weaken the nobility was not entirely effective – his only accomplishments were furthering the instability of his country and murdering an obscene amount of innocent civilians along with a couple of nobles. Regarding Ivan’s methods of power reduction for the nobles, his drastic change in tactics – from altering the written legislation to military force – is best explained by this quote from The Prince: “…from [the nobles]…the prince must guard himself and look upon them as secret enemies” (Machiavelli 32). Machiavelli knew that even if a ruler was not engaged in a feud with the nobility, he must view them as his enemies at all times, in order to protect themselves and the ruling class. Otherwise, Machiavelli’s previous quote about the nobles becomes relevant, and the ruler has to worry about the nobles leaving and/or challenging them. Ivan IV followed Machiavelli’s direction in The Prince unquestioningly, stripping away the noble’s power in the military, thereby reducing the noble’s influence over Russia’s military, a critical asset if their betrayal of Ivan were to succeed. Ivan IV still wasn’t satisfied, so, several years later, he imprisoned many of the nobles in the aforementioned oprichninas, and let the oprichniki slaughter them, along with anyone else they desired. During this time, Ivan let the nobles he trusted run the country while he retreated into the protection of the oprichniki. Even though Ivan’s efforts to diminish the power of the nobility was only partially successful, following Machiavelli’s advice still allowed him to undercut the nobles by reducing their power several ways, and murder a vast majority of them.
Early in his reign, Ivan religiously abided by Machiavelli’s advice in The Prince that refers to techniques that rulers should adopt when presiding over their citizens, but unfortunately failed to do so in his later years as Russia’s first tsar. Ivan IV decided to attempt and appease the people in order to prevent a rebellion. To placate the Russian citizens, and reduce the chances of a future revolution, Ivan IV organized a town meeting that, as specified by eiu.edu, gave his subjects “the opportunity to voice complaints and present opinions concerning matters of the kingdom” (Carswell). Ivan knew that his kingdom wasn’t perfect. Ivan IV also knew that an attempted uprising might occur if he did not endeavor to oblige the requests of the people with respects to the issues that needed to be fixed. So, Ivan IV organized a meeting to listen to the Russian individuals on matters respecting the sovereignty in all of its aspects. Unfortunately, nobody attended the meeting, but in spite of that Ivan IV still pledged to do better as Russia’s ruler (eiu.edu). Ivan’s attempt to preemptively conciliate the Russian public was his way of following Machiavelli’s advice about ensuring the happiness of one’s citizens: “The prince must…avoid those things which will make him hated or despised” (Machiavelli 58). Machiavelli knew that a ruler would never be able to last long if the citizens of their country disliked them. In order to prevent that, Machiavelli advised that a ruler should not do anything that would risk losing the approval of their natives, thereby securing the ruler’s position for years to come. Ivan IV’s way of espousing Machiavelli’s input was to guarantee his popularity by fixing the problems brought up in the meeting. Again, even though nobody attended, Ivan upheld his promise to improve himself for several years, and Russia enjoyed a peaceful and progressive time in the early stages of Ivan’s reign. Alas, Ivan proved several years later that he was not a man of his word, as the oprichninas and the oprichniki showed. Still, that wasn’t where Ivan’s cruelty ended. After the oprichninas failed, and the oprichniki had to be disbanded, Ivan IV became paranoid that the city of Novgorod were planning to upstage him. Described in dailyhistory.org, Ivan’s paranoia drove him to order the city to be “attacked…and had it sacked in an orgy of bloodshed and brutality that lasted weeks” (Whedland). Previously, a Russian town had removed themselves from Russian rule, and allowed themselves to be controlled by the Polish (historycollection.com). It is rumored that those events, along with Ivan’s insatiable paranoia, drove him to completely ruin the town of Novgorod. Along with the majority of the previously decommissioned oprichniki, Ivan IV stormed the city in a month-long siege of murder, rape, torture, and theft. It was this event that earned Ivan the nickname of “Ivan the Terrible”. Although Ivan IV’s actions were inexcusable, several of his techniques were particularly Machiavellian in their nature. In The Prince, Machiavelli wrote about certain situations where cruelty should be permitted: “A prince…must not mind incurring the charge of cruelty for the purpose of keeping his subjects united and faithful” (Machiavelli 52). Machiavelli’s basic belief behind this excerpt is that rulers should consider brutality acceptable if their citizens needed a reminder to behave, or if the country required reunification. Although Ivan IV’s paranoia about a permitted Polish invasion was unsubstantiated, what he believed excused his actions from a Machiavellian perspective, because he thought that the behaviour of the Novgorod citizens necessitated a correctional intervention. In The Prince, Machiavelli wrote extensively about practices rulers should adopt when overseeing the citizens of their country, and Ivan appropriated several of them. In the beginning of his reign, Ivan IV allowed the Russian citizens to voice their concerns, in order to fix them and maintain the peace. Later in his time as the tsar, Ivan disregarded his reluctance to cruelty in order to successfully put suspected rebels in their place. Both of Ivan IV’s actions show that Machiavelli’s recommended ways of dealing with the people of the country are extremely useful.
Ivan IV followed Machiavelli’s The Prince very closely when it came to the military and war. 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. Additionally, Ivan sent Russia into several lengthy wars for the majority of his time as Russia’s tsar, all based on Machiavelli’s writings. A Machiavellian approach Ivan IV utilized regarded certain actions a ruler should take when engaged in conflict: “…[if] armies are to be used…the prince must go in person” (Machiavelli 40). Machiavelli advised that if conflicts were to be engaged in, that their ruler should be present alongside them, because he knew that a country’s military would be considerably more successful in their engagements. So, when sending Russia’s armed forces into Novgorod, Ivan decided to join the attack alongside his troops and he secured a victory against the citizens of Novgorod. But before this occurred, 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. This kept the soldiers forever indebted to Ivan, because they only made money as long as they had the property, leaving them unable to do anything but serve Ivan. Additionally, these houses did not provide enough income to properly support the owners. This left the majority of Russia’s soldiers in serious debt, as they had no other way of purchasing what they needed. Cleverly, the tsar allowed the repayment of debt with loans from special gentry banks owned by the crown. This left 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 nobility and their influence over the military. Ivan’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. According to dailyhistory.org, Ivan 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 technology 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 to prevail in adversity” (Machiavelli 47). Machiavelli believed that rulers would absolutely be challenged during their lifetime, and to combat that, during times of nonviolence, militarial strength and size should be increased. Machiavelli knew that if rulers did not capitalize on peaceful times and increase the capacity of their military, then they 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’s attempted military conquests proved to be fruitless and largely unsuccessful, Ivan’s did have a generation of soldiers that were loyal to him and the crown. Furthermore, Ivan IV’s actions and Machiavelli’s advice concerning the single-minded focus on war also aligned. As told by britannica.com, “Russia was at war for the greater part of Ivan’s reign” (Andreyev). Ivan IV’s main focus during his time as the first tsar of Russia was conquering other countries. During Ivan’s early time as the ruler he launched several unsuccessful attacks against Kazan, a Turkic state in Russia. A couple of years later, after thoroughly getting ready, Ivan IV successfully defeated the town of Kazan in 1552, before also annexing Astrakhan four years later. The Volga River is part of a trade route to the Caspian Sea, and Ivan’s takeover of Kazan and Astrakhan allowed for safety on that section of the journey. But, Ivan still needed to push his way to the sea after the end of the Volga River. Therefore, two years later, Ivan IV waged war on Livonia (current-day Latvia and Estonia) in an attempt to institute Russian rule. Russia was triumphant in their battle against Livonia, but Poland fought back several years later, pushing deep into Russian territory, while Sweden reclaimed parts of Livonia. An intervention was staged by Pope Gregory XIII at the request of Ivan IV, and Poland and Russia agreed on a treaty. Russia lost all of the land they claimed in Livonia, and a few years later, Russia was forced to give up their land on their Gulf of Finland in an armistice with Sweden. Essentially, Ivan IV’s relentless pursuit of war that consumed the duration of his reign proved to be entirely pointless. However, Ivan IV’s persistence in warring was adopted from a tactic written about in The Prince: “A Prince should therefore have no other aim or thought…but war and its organization and discipline…” (Machiavelli 46). Fundamentally, this Machiavellian principle states that a ruler should always be preparing for, or engaging in, war. Although Ivan’s wars were ultimately ineffective in achieving anything, he followed Machiavelli’s principle exactly. Ivan IV was always engaged in conflict, and had little time for anything else. Although the majority of Ivan’s military conquests ultimately proved to be profitless, following Machiavelli’s advice in The Prince brought much success for Ivan IV, proving not only that Machiavelli’s writings are invaluable, but that Ivan IV concurred vehemently with Machiavelli.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich followed Machiavelli’s writings inherently, particularly those regarding strategies of dealing with the nobility, techniques of ruling, and military and war tactics. Machiavelli recommended that rulers ensure a peaceful but not trusting relationship with the nobles, in order to prevent abandonment or conflict, while also guarding themselves from them. Ivan adhered to Machiavelli’s advice, nonviolently taking away the noble’s power in order to continue a peaceable relationship, thereby preventing damage if a betrayal were to occur, before violently ripping their influence – and their lives – away. Machiavelli also suggested that a ruler should not participate in activities that would look unfavourable to the public, while also advocating for the use of cruelty if it reunited the citizenry, tactics that were both appropriated by Ivan IV. Finally, Machiavelli advised that a ruler should always be getting ready for, or entering into, war, preparing in times of peace. Ivan IV utilized this Machiavellian approach to the military and war by changing up several aspects of Russia’s military policy while fighting in wars the majority of his reign. Although Ivan was not the most successful Machiavellian ruler, he still managed to create a system that indebted Russia’s citizens and nobles that served in the military to the ruling class, strengthening their loyalty to Russia. Ivan IV also increased his power at the expense of the nobles, weakening the nobility and reducing the chance of a betrayal. Lastly, Ivan IV aimed to please the Russian people by fixing their issues with the ruling class, while gaining lots of land in several military expeditions. Unfortunately, both of these accomplishments became undone in Ivan’s later ventures. Although Ivan failed to truly understand much of Machiavelli’s advice, it is important that we understand the core message of several of his quotes. Some of the most crucial lessons that can be learned is leaders should be alongside their people when sending them into difficult situations, unlawful things should not be participated in, and that peaceful times should be used to prepare for future adversity. Sadly, Machiavelli never knew how many rulers would eventually follow his advice in The Prince, but fortunately, he and his words live on through the rulers that utilize his writings.