Fidel Castro - Machiavelli’s Cuban Prince

Many old pieces of literature have influenced the way people think today. The Prince, written by Niccolò Machiavelli, was written as a “how-to” manual for a new prince. In it, Machiavelli makes extensive reference to the leadership styles, successes, and failures of historical figures. The term “prince” was used as a metaphor for any public official. Even though not all leaders of today have read The Prince, many follow Machiavelli’s guidelines without knowing it. This is due to the fact that history does repeat itself and Machiavelli’s observations of successful leaders of the past still hold true in the modern world.

I have chosen to focus on the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and assess his success as a leader according to Machiavelli’s ‘handbook’. According to Pardo Llada (in Quirk, 1993), The Prince was one of Castro’s favourite works, and from it, he “learned to justify everything”.

In Chapter 12 Machiavelli addresses the issue of the type of people a successful ‘prince’s’ army should be made up of. He soundly criticises the use of mercenary armies. He describes mercenaries as “useless and dangerous”. Fidel Castro’s men were originally rebels who believed in

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Miami Castro, Guevara Castro, Machiavelli Castros, Miami Cubans, Revolutionary Movement, Soviet Union, Niccolò Machiavelli, Bay Pigs, Interestingly Machiavelli, Prince Castros, keeping promises, leader honest, fidel castro, soviet union, help prince, honest times, follow machiavellis, fox lion, fox shrewdness, cuban population,
Approximate Word count = 1679
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)