“The immediate purpose with which the Italians and Germans effected the great change in European constitution was unity, not liberty. They constructed, not securities, but forces. Machiavelli's hour had come.”

—  John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

Introductory note to G.P. Gooch's Annals of Politics and Culture https://archive.org/stream/annalsofpolitics00goociala#page/n5/mode/2up, p. xxxlv (1901)

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John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton112
British politician and historian 1834–1902

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