logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2023
26m 57s

What is a Fascist?

History Hit
About this episode

This is everything you ever wanted to know about fascism. Are the British government's new proposals to stop refugee boats arriving fascistic? Were the 2021 insurrectionists at the Capitol building fascists? Is Muslim persecution in India today fascism in action? They're certainly attacks on democracy but can they accurately be described as fascism?


Dan puts that question to a world-leading expert in today's episode, Roger Griffin, Emeritus Professor in Modern History at Oxford Brookes University. They get into the deep history of fascism's origins, and the true definitions of terms like 'authoritarian' and 'populism' and look to distinguish the difference between the technical meaning of fascism and the colloquial term we tend to invoke in daily conversation.


Produced by James Hickmann and edited Dougal Patmore


If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!


Download the History Hit app from the Google Play store.

Download the History Hit app from the Apple Store.

Up next
Jul 8
Why Do Empires Fall?
For centuries, the Roman Empire commanded unparalleled control over the world around it. It expanded its borders through trade and conquest, sucking resources from the periphery into its thriving centre - Rome. And then, suddenly, everything changed. The Empire entered a state of ... Show More
42m 14s
Jul 6
Pirates: Piracy in the South China Seas
Zheng Yi Sao was a pirate leader so formidable that she made Blackbeard and Captain Morgan look like amateurs. From humble beginnings as a sex worker in Canton, she rose to command a vast pirate fleet that wrought havoc in the South China Sea. She took on the Qing Dynasty, the Po ... Show More
38m 48s
Jul 3
The Rise & Fall of Sparta
Today, we trace the rise and fall of ancient Greece’s most formidable warrior society - Sparta. This society's militaristic culture and battlefield feats are the stuff of legend - but how much of its story is based on cold, hard fact?Joining us is Dr Andrew Bayliss, a professor o ... Show More
46m 16s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2021
Fascism: everything you wanted to know
Richard Bosworth answers listener questions on the authoritarian ideology that emerged in Italy a century ago How was Mussolini able to seize control in Italy a century ago? What differentiated Italian Fascism from Nazism? And is the term “fascist” bandied around too much today? ... Show More
43m 29s
Sep 2023
372. The Birth of British Fascism
The cultural roots of fascism swirled around Britain at the turn of the 20th century, as medieval nostalgia, an obsession with hygiene, anti-semitism, and concern for the environment grew in the wake of modern development. In the 1920s, Britain faced similarly tough conditions to ... Show More
56m 20s
Jul 2023
Liberal Fascism
Who poses the greatest threat to democracy? Is it the movement that openly identifies with the symbols, goals and policies of fascist governments? Or is it the median bureaucrat at the Department of Health and Human Services? In 2008, a National Review nepo-baby attempted to answ ... Show More
1h 4m
Sep 2023
Facts Ep. 3: Is Fascism Right Wing?
Exclusive discount for my listeners! https://genucel.com/facts  Is Donald Trump a Fascist? Fascism is a term that’s often used to discredit political opponents, but do you know what it actually means? Ben explains. 
8m 28s
Jan 2021
17. Fascism
What is fascism and where did it come from? No one admits to being a fascist yet it continues to be a term of abuse hurled on a regular basis. Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the history of this most unacceptable of political models. A Goalhanger Films & Left Peg Media ... Show More
51m 28s
Nov 2022
Mussolini's Rise & Fall
Exactly a century after the 1922 March on Rome which brought fascist dictator Benito Mussolini to power, the far-right party Brothers of Italy have been voted into government.Fratelli d'Italia (FDL), which has its roots in Italy’s post-war Neo-fascist social movement, is lead by ... Show More
51m 9s
Jun 2022
194. The First Fascist
Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the 'first' fascist, Gabriele D'Annunzio, with historian Lucy Hughes-Hallett. D'Annunzio was a key figure in Italian literature before becoming a political figure later in his life. Although never personally identifying with fascism, his ... Show More
1h 5m
Jan 2023
Michael Joseph Roberto, "The Coming of the American Behemoth: The Origins of Fascism in the United States, 1920-1940" (Monthly Review Press, 2018)
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 shocked and appalled a number of people, forcing a critical reevaluation of what was possible, and what we ought to be vigilant about. A debate soon emerged about whether Trump represented the possibility of fascism in the United States. This ... Show More
1h 30m
Mar 2023
Let's Start a Coup! Ep 1 – A Basket Full of Fascists
Nowadays, most people can agree that fascism is, well, a bad thing. But back in the 1930s, life absolutely sucked for most Americans, and fascism still had a sort of new car smell. Wall Street bankers were convinced they could take their country back from the clutches of ‘class t ... Show More
40m 6s
Oct 2023
374. The Battle of Cable Street: Fascism Defeated
“You will never catch Sir Oswald admitting to anti-semitism - all he does is embody it!”Following the violent scenes at Kensington Olympia, the British fascist movement is in decline. Britain is swirling with unemployment, having just come out of a decade of general strikes, and ... Show More
47m 3s