How to Become a Tyrant

Mussolini seized power in Italy in 1922, after his March on Rome. He would hold it in his grasp until his death in 1945, establishing a dictatorship that lasted more than 20 years. Long considered a buffoon and a second-rate dictator, Il Duce invented fascism that was imitated by Hitler, who viewed the Italian as his political master. He wanted to transform his country into a warrior nation and promised Italians a return to the grandeur of the Roman Empire. He governed by violence and trickery and was one of the first populist leaders of modern times, leading his country into the catastrophe of the World War II. But who was Mussolini, this former teacher who came from the extreme left to become a newspaper editor and creator of the Fascist Party? Why did he ally himself with Hitler? Were the Italians really behind him? With archives and interviews with the last-surviving witnesses of the era, this portrait takes a look back at one of the most notorious dictators of the 20th century.

In this adaptation of the award-winning podcast, Slow Burn’s Leon Neyfakh excavates the strange subplots and forgotten characters of recent political history—and finds surprising parallels to the present.

On June 7, 1968, ETA assassinates José Pardines, a Guardia Civil officer. On May 3rd, 2018, a communiqué from the terrorist gang announces the dissolution of its structures. Fifty years of terror, fear, pain, truces, negotiations and 826 deaths lie between the two dates.

This thought-provoking documentary series examines the harrowing consequences of the Vietnam War, from the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the fall of Saigon.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Tsetung established a system of labor camps for systematic repression, known as Laogai, an abbreviation for "Reform Through Labor". In such camps, forced labor and physical and mental torture were used to bring about a so-called mental reform, re-education in the spirit of the Chinese Communist Party. Millions of Chinese were affected. Many were executed. In hundreds of camps, the Party took advantage of the prisoners' free labor to build the economy. Self-criticism and denunciation were often the only way to escape martyrdom. Successive waves of purges culminated in the Cultural Revolution, which saw massive human rights abuses, political assassinations, massacres, and exiles in remote parts of the country. Using unreleased archive footage, the documentary tells the story of the invention, development and improvement of China's totalitarian system of surveillance and repression up to the present day, never told before.

The irresistible rise and dramatic downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Her inner circle reveal how a political outsider won power and dominated British life through a turbulent decade.

The most downloaded app in the world is raising serious geopolitical concerns. How did TikTok become a central player in the ongoing trade and political tensions between Beijing and Washington? As a key decision looms regarding its future in the United States, this documentary offers an in-depth look at the platform and sheds light on the growing global battle over data control.

Discover the shadowy world of political donations and fundraising 15 years after the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizen’s United case, which enabled unlimited spending by hidden sources on many political campaigns.

Go behind the public roles of Finland’s all-female cabinet, for an honest and unguarded look into the lives of exceptional politicians in unprecedented times.

Thirty years after the release of his film JFK (1991), filmmaker Oliver Stone reviews recently declassified evidence related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Danish documentary in two parts about Danish right wing politician Inger Støjberg and her fans

In the Eye of the Storm is a six-part documentary series about one of the foremost intellectuals and political figures of our age, Yanis Varoufakis. In the Eye of the Storm begins with a first-hand account of Varoufakis’ dramatic battle with the European establishment, but goes much further to weave a gripping political narrative about the fate of our civilization: where we are, how we got here, and where he believes we must go. We see up close, through Varoufakis’ unique story, how power works at the highest levels, entering a world so often shrouded in secrecy.

Follow Zelensky’s journey from a young actor and entertainer to one of the most recognisable leaders on the planet, presiding over a nation at war with Putin’s Russia.

When the Second World War breaks out, it is at first largely a war between one side of totalitarian aggressors against a portion of the democratic countries of the world defending other totalitarian states. From the first day of the war in Poland, as it already is in China, this will be a war against humanity.