Rommel: The Desert Fox

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2023

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Known as the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel was one of Germany's greatest military leaders. Having soared through the ranks after numerous victories during the First World War, he became an integral part of the Axis command, and he was one of the few who held Hitler's ear. But how did his experiences in WW1 shape the military commander he became, and what happened to him after WW2?

In this episode James welcomes Dr Martin Samuels to the podcast to take a deep dive into Rommel's life and career, and examine his legacy today. Looking at his role at El Alamein, his involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler, and his ultimate exile - what can we learn about the Desert Fox, and how did his actions help shape the course of the World Wars?

Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code WARFARE. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here.

You can take part in our listener survey here.

For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When you think of the might of the German army and of a remarkable leader famed for his tactical genius. You might also think of the infamous July 20th plot to assassinate Hitler that Rommel was at least partly involved
0:15.2	him and that ultimately led to his own death. In fact, when Rommel is spoken about today, he's represented
0:21.6	as the most popular field marshal in German history, a man
0:25.0	openly respected by his enemies who stood up to Hitler. But is this an accurate portrayal of
0:30.7	Ronald? Is he really a war hero and an anti-fascist
0:34.1	hero all at the same time? Well an increasing number of historians are
0:37.9	revisiting this history and argue that this Rommel myth is far from
0:42.3	accurate. I'm your host James Patton Rogers, this is warfare,
0:45.7	and to get the truth behind the legend I invited author and historian Martin
0:49.9	Samuel's onto the podcast. Martin is the author of Command or Control, Command, Training and
0:56.0	Tactics in the British and German armies 1888 to 1918. And it's from his vast
1:00.9	knowledge of the various elements of the German
1:03.2	Prussian military since the late 1800s that we get to understand the real
1:07.3	Rommel where he came from and how he rose to prominence under Hitler.
1:11.8	Enjoy.
1:12.8	Hi Martin, welcome to Warfare. How you doing? Are you well?
1:25.6	I'm very well indeed, how are you?
1:27.6	I'm good, thanks, and we're going to get stuck into the life, the successes, the failures, and the demise of Field Marshal
1:36.7	Rommel, the Desert Fox. We have touched upon quite a few famous Field Marshals
1:41.6	on this podcast. We've got into detail about Monti and one of my
1:45.5	favorites was looking into Allenbrook the underrated the forgotten field marshal but we haven't
1:52.3	turned to the other side to look at Romel.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.