Adolf Hitler: the Modern Machiavelli. In Adolf Hitler, the early twentieth century found a nearly flawless Machiavellian politician. He emerged from his nine-month imprisonment in 1924 a flawless tactician, not losing his ability to commandeer and expand a flourishing army until he attacked Russia. For Hitler had an extremely firm grasp on Machiavelli's words: "A prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he …showed first 75 words of 875 total…

…showed last 75 words of 875 total…armies that didn't exist across Europe. Eventually, Hitler's arrogantly blind mistakes and his gradual mental breakdown led to his suicide on 30 April 1945. Adolf Hitler's political and military policy was flawlessly Machiavellian until he made his fatal mistake: the invasion of Russia and his failure to back out when he still had the opportunity. Niccolo Machiavelli would have agreed that, along with all of his gifts of statecraft and war craft, a prince must be rational.