The Prince was the first great work of modern political and historical analysis, but it suffered from a tragic flaw: Machiavelli chose as his "hero" Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, who, unknown to the author, employed murder as one of his tools of statecraft. While Machiavelli had patriotic intentions and praised Borgia for defending his homeland from political, diplomatic, and military attacks, Borgia was unmasked and the Vatican eventually banned the book. The Prince was later studied by Hitler, Stalin, Richelieu, Bismarck, and Frederick the Great.