History: Sport, Nationalism and Propaganda in the Twentieth Century

The first session looks at the relationship between sport and fascism from its rise in the 1920s until the end of the Second World War. The session will look at Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, and Franco’s Spain. It will look at the ways in which these regimes harnessed sport to promote ideas of nationalism and racial supremacy, looking at specific events such as the 1934 football World Cup (hosted by Italy) and the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

The second session will then analyse the relationship between sport and communist states in the Cold War era. The session will focus on the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Europe but will also cover states such as China and North Korea. Specific topics of interest include the Soviet entry into the Olympics, sport as a means of international recognition, and of promoting communist and anti-Western propaganda.

The final session looks at sport in Western states, namely the United Kingdom and the United States, and explores the complex relationship between sport and nation-building. It compares strategies used in these states to those covered in the previous two sessions and analyses contemporary examples of “sportswashing” in states such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia.