There have been many European leaders in the past 115 years, but one stood out overall all the others. His name was Janos Kadar. Janos Kadar was the General Secretary of Hungary, which is one of the 51 countries in Europe. He was born in 1912 at Fiume, Hungary and grew up with foster parents up till he was 6. Janos Kadar had many Accomplishments as well as failures and to this day people still see him for the great and dreadful man that he was.
Machiavelli was an expert in his writings and was able to tell different things that some people still follow to this day. Janos Kadar was a great example of how we still use Machiavelli’s theories to this day. Janos Kadar joined a communist party in 1932 at the age of 20 secretly. This was a huge downside that Janos Kadar had because communism is not a good way to treat people in the way that they should be treated as citizens. Machiavelli on the other hand, would disagree to this because he believed in having people fear their leader.
He says,” And men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails. “(ch. 17). Machiavelli is stating that he believes it is better to have people fear you than have people love you because it is much more simple and more effective. Another example of this would be when
Machiavelli says,” Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women”(ch. 17). In this quote he is saying that is good to have your citizens fear you, but only to a certain amount because you do not want them to hate you. Janos Kadar was able to accomplish this. He had full control and not many hated him, in fact many admired im. Janos Kadar had many accomplishments, one of them being was when he fought for the Hungarian resistance movement against the Nazi occupiers. This gave him love from the people because they saw that he was doing good deeds. Machiavelli would have agreed with what he had done because he believed it was good to be feared and loved and in this example Janos was both.
Machiavelli says,” Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both”(ch. 7). This quote from Machiavelli states that he believes that the strongest of leaders are able to get their citizens to love and fear them. For instance, Machiavelli says,” Knowing the ambition of the nobility and their boldness, considered that a bit to their mouths would be necessary to hold them in; and, on the other side, knowing the hatred of the people, founded in fear, against the nobles, he wished to protect them”(ch. 19). This is saying that it is good to do good deeds every once in a while so that your citizens could like you.
Janos Kadar was good at making people to like him when he need it the most and that is one of the things that made him a great leader. Although Janos Kadar had some accomplishments he also had some failures. On October 31st, 1956 Kadar left the government in disgust and established a rival government in eastern Hungary which was supported by Soviet tanks. Then on November 4th, 1956 the Soviet forces took over the major airports of Hungary and sent tanks into Budapest. It is thought that 20,000 people died and 200,000 fled the country in fear of their lives.
Machiavelli shows that it is not good to go to these bad times when he says,” Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants”(ch. 14). In this quote Machiavelli is saying that it is no good to arm yourself because you do not accomplish anything from it. Another time he says this is when he says,” This arose from nothing else than his inhuman cruelty, which, with his boundless valour, made him revered and terrible in the sight of his soldiers”(ch. 7).
This quote is saying that it is not a good idea have your soldiers hate you which is what Janos had done to them. Janos Kadar did have a big failure , but he was still considered great at what he did. Janos Kadar was a great leader with his ups and downs ,as all other leaders have as well. He was great at following what Machiavelli had thought was a perfect prince and he falls in more of a fearful category. In conclusion, Machiavelli’s theories are still relevant to this day and have helped many leaders be where they are.
