Essay About Important Missions And Machiavelli Perspective

Machiavelli Perspective on Globalization
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Practically nothing is known of Nicolo Machiavelli before he became a minor
official in the Florentine Government. His youth, however, was passed
during some of the most tumultuous years in the history of Florence. He
born the year that Lorenzo the Magnificent came to power, subverting the
traditional civil liberties of Florence while inaugurating a reign of
unrivaled luxury and of great brilliance for the arts. He was twenty-five
at the time of Savonarolas attempt to establish a theocratic democracy,
although, from the available evidence, he took no part in it. Yet through
his family, he was closer to many of these events than many Florentine
citizens. The Machiavelli family for generations had held public office,
and his father was a jurist and a minor official. Machiavelli himself,
shortly after the execution of Savanarola, became Secretary of the Second
Chancery, which was to make him widely known among his contemporaries as
“Florentine Secretary.”
By virtue of his position Machiavelli served the “Ten of Liberty and
Peace,”
who sent their own ambassadors to foreign powers, transacted business with
the cities of the Florentine domain, and controlled the military
establishment of Florence. During the fourteen years he held office,
Machiavelli was placed in charge of the diplomatic correspondence of his
bureau, served as Florentine representative on nearly thirty foreign
missions, and attempted to organize a citizen militia to replace the
mercenary troops.
In his diplomatic capacity, which absorbed most of his energies, he dealt
with the various principalities into which Italy was divided at the time.
His more important missions, however, gave him insight into the court of
King of France, where he met the mightiest minister in Europe, Cardinal d
Amboise. On this occasion he began the observation and analysis of
national
political forces, which were to find expression in his diplomatic reports.
His Report on France was written after he completed three assignments for
his office in that country; the Report on Germany was prepared as a result
of a mission to the court of Emperor Maximilian.
The most important mission, in view of his later development as a political
writer, was that to the camp of Cesare Borgia, Duke Valentino. Under the
protection of his father, Pope Alexander VI, Cesare was engaged in
consolidating the Papal States, and Machiavelli was in attendance upon him
at the time of his greatest triumph. Machiavelli had served audiences with
Cesare and witnessed the intrigues culminating in the murder of his
disaffected captains, which he carefully described in the Method Adopted by
Duke Valentino to Murder Vitellozzo Vittli. As the “Florentine Secretary,”
he was present a few month later in Rome when the end of Cesare came to
pass
with disgrace following the death of Alexander VI.
During his diplomatic career Machiavelli enjoyed one outstanding success.
Largely through his efforts, Florence obtained the surrender of Pisa, which
had revolted from Florentine rule and maintained its independence for
years.
Although he did not achieve any other diplomatic triumphs, he was esteemed
for the excellence of his reports and is known to have had the confidence
the president of Florence, the Gonfalonier, Piero Soderini. But with the
restoration of the Medicis to power in 1512, Machiavellis public career
came to an abrupt end. His attempts to prove his talents to the new rulers
were ineffectual. His appearance as a former gonfalonier man cast
significant doubt on his work and he was removed from office and exiled
from
the city for one year. He was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly being
involved in a conspiracy against the new government. His release required
the intervention of Giovanni de Medici himself, albeit after his ascension
to the papacy.
On release from his dungeon, Machiavelli with his wife and children,
retired
to a small farm not far from Florence. Dividing his time between farming
and petty dispositions, he commented that, possessing nothing but the
“knowledge of the State,” he had no occasion to use it. His only remaining
link the official world was through his longtime friend, the Florentine
Ambassador to the Pope, to whom he wrote of public affairs and, strangely,