This chapter talks about of the various kinds of troops and mercenary soldiers, he discusses about the disgrace brought upon Italy because the different states started to use mercenary soldiers to protect them instead of loyal citizens. At first he briefly explains what a principality needs to be successful: it needs a good army and good laws. He finally ends up saying that there aren’t good laws without armies and vice versa. So he continues talking about armies and mercenaries. He clearly blames the defeat and terrible state of the Italian territory to the use of mercenaries. He says before that when the emperor of Rome in its traditional form started to lose power, then Italy turned into the power of the Pope, and since most citizens didn’t know how to defend their city, they hired mercenaries. And he then explains of many different examples of mercenaries being nice in peaceful times but betrayal type in when it came to wage about war. Finally he says that the mercenaries can obtain certain victories but in the long run their assistance turns into disaster.
Now, I see some resemblance in today’s reality, especially about keeping an army in the democratic nations of today. Do we need armies today? It seems like, for example, Costa Rica does not possess an army and they depend in the United Nations to provide them protection in case they’re invaded. In Honduras we have an army and they have support from the people and the government, but, do we need an army to make us a better country? I do not know what to think there. However, I would prefer to have Honduran citizens defending our soil rather than mercenaries from oversees.
Maybe another way to see foreign intervention is through economic interference from big countries such as the United States and European ones over affairs of underdeveloped countries like Honduras. We have their aid or foreign investment, but I am not so sure how much good they do to our country.
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