Ed West - The Christian Victory That Stopped Europe Becoming Muslim

The Winston Marshall Show

Winston Marshall

Society & Culture

4.8 • 660 Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of The Winston Marshall Show, I sit down with historian and writer Ed West for a wide-ranging conversation on Islam, Christianity, and the civilisational history shaping Britain, Europe, and the modern West.

We begin with the Battle of Tours in 732, and examine whether Christian resistance prevented Europe from becoming Muslim, before tracing the rapid expansion of Islam across the Middle East, North Africa, and Iberia. Ed explains the role of warfare, taxation, and power in religious conversion, and challenges modern myths about a peaceful Islamic golden age.

The discussion moves through the Crusades, Britain’s historical relationship with Islam, Barbary piracy, and Christian slavery, before turning to the decline of Christianity in the Middle East, and the radicalisation of Islam in Western diaspora communities.

We also debate whether Britain and America are Christian or Judeo-Christian societies, exploring the biblical foundations of English law, the influence of the Old Testament, and why this question has returned amid modern political and cultural conflict.

A sharp historical conversation about religion, war, identity, and what the past reveals about the present.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction

04:23 The Role of Christianity in European Resistance

24:04 The Crusades and the Relationship Between Christianity and Islam

40:08 The British Relationship with Islam

1:01:45 The Decline of the Ottoman Empire and the Rise of British Influence

1:04:48 The Judeo-Christian Tradition in Britain

1:11:03 Judeo-Christian Influence in English History

1:15:04 Young Americans and Political Movements

1:18:34 Interventionism and Anti-Interventionism in American Politics

1:21:16 The Decline of Christianity in the Middle East

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Winston Marshall Show with me, Winston Marshall. I sat down with the writer
0:04.8	and historian Ed West and we took a sweeping history of the relations between European
0:12.1	Christendom and the Islamic world, from the Battle of Tours in 732 all the way up until the
0:20.0	present day. As well as that, we also looked at the argument as to
0:24.5	whether or not Britain, Europe and indeed America are Judeo-Christian or just Christian.
0:31.7	If you head over to Winston-martial.com.uk, you'll enjoy not only, add free viewing and
0:36.6	listening and the opportunity to ask
0:38.3	future guests your questions, but an extended conversation between me and Ed, where we grapple
0:42.9	with the question as what it means to be English, what it means to be British.
0:48.8	That's all at winstonmarshal.co.com.
0:50.6	But here on audio, I ask you if you want to support the show. All you have to do is press
0:56.7	follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcast from. Otherwise, sit back, enjoy. Here he is,
1:04.5	Ed West. It is my great pleasure to have the mighty historian Ed West on the show. I'm so glad because I've been reading
1:11.9	you for many, many years. Thank you. It's the pleasure. I've dug out some of my old books and
1:16.0	see my old notes from, you know, I read the diversity delusion back in 2020. I loved your
1:22.2	history of England. And because of your great work there, and of course, your popular sub-sac
1:30.2	the wrong side of history, I was hoping to tackle with you the question of whether or
1:35.9	not England and indeed America would Judeo-Christian or just Christian?
1:40.1	I think that's going to be a very interesting thing to tuck into.
1:43.1	But first of all, I want to get into another topic,
1:46.4	which is the story of Islam in Europe and Islam and its relationship with Britain,
1:54.1	because you, of course, wrote The Path of the Martyrs,
	...

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