Role of War in Society Essay Example for Free

Role of War in Society Essay Both The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and Utopia by Thomas Moore examine the role and the importance of war to maintain a strong and successful society. More (via Hythloday) believes that war should be the last option and is not needed in a safe and happy government without the help of auxiliaries and mercenaries while on the other hand, Machiavelli believes that war plays a crucial war in a prosperous and thriving society using other troops and people to avoid war. Machiavelle uses his belief that war is the way to have a strong successful government to shape the society of Italy while More uses the belief of peace and forbearance of war to shape his utopian society. More and Machiavelli have opposing opinions on the values and how the way it can maintain a stability and prosperity in a society. Machiavelli believes that power is attained in a government through the conquering of war and that good law and government follows naturally from good military as we can see in Chapter 12. â€Å"The presence of sound military forces indicates the presence of sound law† (Machiavelli 37). This shows that he believes that a strong developing state directly involves the conquering of war. He believed that successful war is the very foundation upon which all states are built. Machiavelli praises Alexandar the Great, Cyrus, Scipio and Caesar as leaders who gained power through their conquering wars. â€Å"Anyone who reads Xenophon’s life of Cyrus must realize how close Scipio modeled himself on Cyrus, how much that imitation contributed to his glory, and how closely he conformed, in temperance, affability, humanity, and liberty to the thing that Xenophon wrote about Cyrus† (Machiavelli 42). In contrast, More shows his views on war through the Utopians. â€Å"Nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war (More 64). The Utopians viewed war as the last resort and would avoid it at all costs. They hated war and found no glory in the practice of killing others. They would only engage in war to protect themselves and their people, to defend allies, and to relieve oppression. â€Å"No man is to be esteemed our enemy that has never injured us; and that the partnership of the human nature is instead of a league. And that kindness and good-nature unite men more effectually and with greater strength than any agreements whatsoever; since thereby the engagements of mens hearts become stronger than the bond and obligation of words† (More 64). This shows that agreement and unity was very important to the Utopians and they would do anything just to maintain it. They would also try their best to preserve good terms with the people or societies around them. In Machiavelle, all of the issues in the government are in a military point of view because the successfulness in war is crucial to the preservation of the government. â€Å"A prince must have no other objective, no other thought, nor take up any profession but that of war, its methods and its discipline, for that is the only art expected of a ruler. And it is of such great value that it not only keeps hereditary princes in power, but often raises men of lowly condition to that rank† (More 40). Military defense and the strategies required are primary to conquer in war and therefore sustain a happy society. Machiavelle uses the Prince to communicate the importance of war to the audience. â€Å"As for physical training, apart from keeping his troops well disciplined and exercised, he should do a great deal of hunting, and thus harden his body to strenuous exercise, meanwhile learning to read terrain.† This shows that he believed that having brute force would help his army in war to conquer the enemy. War is also what helps a prince to attain power and fortune therefore military and war should be his main priority while ruling. â€Å"..in times of peace he should think about it even more than in wartime. He can do this in two ways, by training the body and training the mind. As for physical training, apart from keeping his troops well and disciplined and exercised, he should do a great deal of hunting, and this harden his body to strenuous exercise..† (Machievelle 41) Princes should always and only think about war especially in times of peace. They need to always be prepared and be in a good state to go to war at any time. â€Å"As for exercising the mind, a prince should read history and reflect on the actions of great men.† Princes should examine the tactics that the past rulers used and put them into action. He should learn from them and learn from both their successes and loses and put them as an example for himself. More in his utopian society would rather use cunning to win rather than brute force because he considered strength to be trait belonging to animals. Unlike Machiavelle, when war is made, the utopians would try to use any technique just to stop war. First one is propaganda in which they would secretly post posters in the enemy territory offering big rewards to people that would assassinate the enemy leaders. The second technique they would use is to promise the throne to the enemy’s rulers brother if he helps the utopians. They would never let things debase to the point where a massacre would occur and would prevent it by not destroying too much of the enemy’s land. nothing more inglorious than that glory that is gained by war â€Å" (More 64). This shows how much the utopians are against war and how much they want to avoid it because they believe that it can ruin their utopian society. Machievelle also believed that one using one own army is best as seen through the example of Cesare Borgia. â€Å"I am never reluctant to cite Cesare Borgia and his deeds. The duke entered the Romagna with auxiliary troops, consisting entirely of Frenchmen; and with them he took Imola and Forli. But then when he found they were not to be trusted, he adopted mercenaries as less dangerous, and hired the Orsini and Vitelli. When he found they too were undependable, treacherous, and dangerous to his service, he got rid of them, and turned to the troops of his own.† (Machievelle 38) The danger with the auxiliaries was because they will always be loyal to their ruler in the end and will probably wait to attack you. Mercenaries on the other hand are better than the auxiliaries but still possess characteristics that are tricky and untrustworthy. Therefore, in the end, Machievelle states that using one’s own troops is the best as Cesare Borgia did in the end. In contrast, the Utopians use spies and bribery to try to stop war. They believe that mercenaries and auxiliaries are tricky but at the same time useful. â€Å"Their second preference is to make use of troops belonging to the nation they are trying to defend; and after them, they enlist as auxiliaries squadrons drawn from their other allies. Lastly they enroll their own citizens. But they always appoint one of their own men who has demonstrated his military capacity to be commander in chief of the whole army.† (More 140) The utopians would do anything to avoid war and they usually would use troops of other nations to fight in war and their troops could be the last resort. They would also avoid fighting on their own land and give the best care to their citizens. A counterargument would be that if ever an intruder invades the Utopian society, war would be initiated. â€Å"For you’ll never find yourself at wat except by your own choice, and peace, not war, ought always to be your first priority† (More 66) Yes if peace cannot be made, war would have to be initiated in the Utopian society but even so, peace is always their foremost choice before they initiate anytime of violence or way on another society. In conclusion, Machievelle’s and More’s contrasting views on war and the strategies and tactics used in war serve one purpose which is to create a stable and prosperous society. Machievelle believes that war using one’s own army is the most crucial factor in maintaining a happy society while More argues that avoiding war using bribery and mercenaries is what the government should be doing no matter what kind of tactics are needed to be used.