Is America building the Fourth Reich?

Before Germany got its empire groove back though, Napoleon Bonaparte played spoiler to the first round of imperial dreams. Let’s unpack each of the Reichs - and the Corsican curveball in the middle.

The First Reich (Holy Roman Empire):

Time period: 962 – 1806

Also known as: The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation

Key personalities:

• Otto I (the Great)
• Frederick Barbarossa
• Charles V
• Joseph II

The First Reich was born when Otto I was crowned by the Pope in 962, formalising what had evolved since Charlemagne’s empire. This Holy Roman Empire was an unruly patchwork of duchies, principalities, and ecclesiastical states bound by Catholicism and vague loyalty to an emperor who couldn’t always find his own capital, let alone govern effectively.

    It was a theocratic feudal conglomerate where power was diffuse and politics confusing. Voltaire famously quipped that it was “neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” Still, for over 800 years, it endured as the theoretical heart of Christian Europe.

Enter Napoleon...

By the early 1800s, Napoleon was cutting a swathe through Europe. After thrashing the Austrian Empire and reshaping the continent to his liking, he created the Confederation of the Rhine, a group of German client states under French control. This act effectively ended the First Reich.

    While not a Reich-builder himself, Napoleon’s empire sits between the First and Second Reichs like a bulldozer through a castle wall. His dismantling of the Holy Roman Empire and reshaping of Europe’s political boundaries laid the groundwork for later German unification. By humiliating the old monarchies and awakening nationalist sentiments, he inadvertently inspired German thinkers and politicians - like Bismarck - to pursue a more cohesive state.

    In 1806, Emperor Francis II - facing irrelevance and with his imperial dignity in tatters - formally dissolved the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon, despite being French (well, Corsican), thus became the de facto destroyer of Germany’s first empire.

The Second Reich (German Empire):

Time period: 1871 – 1918

Also known as: The German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich)

Key personalities:

• Otto von Bismarck
• Kaiser Wilhelm I
• Kaiser Wilhelm II

After Napoleon’s downfall, German nationalists began imagining a unified Germany - something that had eluded them under the fractured First Reich. The Second Reich came to life in 1871, orchestrated by Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian statesman who wielded war like a scalpel.

    The moment of unification was pure theatre: Kaiser Wilhelm I was crowned in the Palace of Versailles after Prussia defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War - rubbing French noses in it quite literally.

    This modern empire was centralised, militarised, and prosperous. But under Wilhelm II, it turned aggressive and expansionist, ultimately leading to World War I. When Germany lost, the Kaiser abdicated, and the Reich collapsed into the uncertain arms of the Weimar Republic.

The Third Reich (Nazi Germany):

Time period: 1933 – 1945

Also known as: Nazi Germany

Key personalities:

• Adolf Hitler
• Joseph Goebbels
• Heinrich Himmler
• Hermann Göring

The Third Reich was Adolf Hitler’s totalitarian fantasy, built on racial ideology, revisionist nationalism, and, ironically, deep disdain for the Weimar Republic that had followed the Second Reich.

    Hitler saw his regime as the heir to the grandeur of the first two Reichs - but this one would last 1,000 years (it didn’t). After seizing power in 1933, he rapidly dismantled democracy, installed a police state, and set Germany on a course for World War II and the Holocaust.

    His regime collapsed in 1945, leaving much of Europe in ruins and Germany divided for nearly half a century. The word “Reich” would never be used unironically again.

Is America building a ‘Reich’?

The short answer is: No, the United States is not building a Reich in the literal, historical sense of the word. But if you're asking whether aspects of American politics are beginning to echo elements of authoritarianism or nationalism that characterised previous "Reichs" - particularly the Third Reich (Nazi Germany) - that’s a conversation people are having, and with good reason.

    Calling something a “Reich” is very loaded. It evokes Hitler, Holocaust, world war, and genocide. Using it casually risks diminishing the specific horrors of Nazi Germany, but ignoring real warning signs in the name of “civility” holds greater dangers.

    Certain anti-democratic behaviours have emerged, and when people feel that their country is abandoning democratic principles, calling it a “Reich” becomes a metaphor born of fear, anger, and historical warning. America’s recent textbook authoritarian strategies have prompted historians of fascism (like Timothy Snyder, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, and others) to point out that democracies don’t collapse overnight. They erode slowly, when people stop paying attention.

What is a Reich, really?
When historians talk about the First, Second, and Third Reichs, they’re referring to specific, official periods of German governance. Only the Third Reich, Nazi Germany (1933–1945), carries the horrifying connotations of fascism, genocide, and totalitarianism.

    So unless America suddenly crowns an emperor, renames itself the "Fourth Reich," and starts redrawing maps, it’s not technically building a Reich.

Are there parallels?
That’s the heart of this question and many scholars, journalists, and citizens have noted disturbing patterns that echo authoritarian regimes, such as:

1. Strongman politics

• The rise of charismatic leaders who claim to be the “only one” who can fix everything.
• Disregard for democratic norms and institutions.
• Attacks on the judiciary, media, and election integrity.

2. Nationalism and identity politics

• “America First” rhetoric.
• Anti-immigrant sentiment.
• Efforts to define “true” Americans along cultural or racial lines.

3. Propaganda and disinformation

• Flooding the media with falsehoods.
• Undermining public trust in experts and fact-based journalism.

What can be done?

The antidote to creeping authoritarianism isn’t panic. It’s engagement:

• Vote; in local, state, and federal elections.
• Stay informed; and question your sources.
• Defend democratic norms; even when it’s inconvenient.
• Speak out; especially when rights are being eroded.

This is how democracies survive: not by being perfect, but by having citizens who care enough to ask hard questions.

Patterns preceding each Reich - and US echoes:

While the United States is not building a Reich in the literal sense, it’s reasonable - and historically responsible - to examine whether the political and social conditions that preceded the rise of past Reichs are appearing in recognisable form today. Let’s take a look at the precursors to each Reich, and consider the parallels (if any) in present-day America.

Before the First Reich:

What preceded it?

• Collapse of Roman authority in Western Europe.
• Political fragmentation and power vacuums.
• A desire to restore order through divine and imperial legitimacy.

Modern Echo?

While not directly analogous, there are growing concerns in the U.S. about institutional decay, loss of faith in government, and even calls for a stronger central authority to “bring order” to chaos - whether that chaos is immigration, crime, or cultural change. Some fringe movements even embrace Christian nationalist ideologies to justify state power.

Before the Second Reich:

What preceded it?

• Longstanding fragmentation of German states.
• Nationalist movements calling for unification.
• Military victories that generated patriotic fervour.
• Use of fear (especially of France) to unite the public behind an authoritarian state.

Modern Echo?

There is a noticeable rise in nationalism and cultural unification efforts in the U.S., often framed in terms like “America First” or “Real America.” A romanticised vision of a unified national identity is often promoted at the expense of pluralism. Military pride and patriotic mythos are sometimes wielded to suggest that questioning the nation’s direction is “un-American.”

Before the Third Reich:

What preceded it?

• Economic devastation following WWI and the Great Depression.
• Widespread disillusionment with democracy (Weimar Republic).
• Exploitation of fear and scapegoating (especially of Jews and Communists).
• Erosion of democratic institutions from within.
• Propaganda, censorship, and violent suppression of opposition.

Modern Echo?

Here the parallels become most concerning:

• Economic inequality, rising inflation, and housing crises are fuelling resentment and instability.
• Disinformation and propaganda flourish online, targeting vulnerable groups (immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, racial minorities) as scapegoats.
• Erosion of trust in democratic institutions (courts, elections, press) is being actively encouraged by political leaders.
• Authoritarian tendencies are increasingly tolerated or even celebrated as “strong leadership.”
• Violence and intimidation are used against political opponents and minority communities, and often excused or downplayed.

The use of nostalgic rhetoric (“Make America Great Again,” for instance) also echoes fascist movements that promised a return to a mythic golden age - an effective tool to justify authoritarian policies under the guise of national rebirth.

What does this mean?

Let’s be clear: parallels are not predictions. The United States has strong institutions, an active civil society, and regular (if imperfect) elections. But history doesn't repeat; it rhymes. Ignoring the patterns because “it can’t happen here” is the surest way to find out that, yes, it can.

    What we’re seeing in the U.S. is a stress test of democracy itself. And those who care about preserving it must study the past not for drama, but for direction.

    The image on this blog shows a clear and detailed side-by-side comparison of historical fascist tactics - especially those used in Nazi Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and other 20th-century regimes - against contemporary tactics seen in modern political movements, particularly in the United States and some other democracies.

So... is it fascism?
Not every use of these tactics makes a regime fascist - but the more they cluster together, the more alarm bells should ring. Historical fascism didn't start with death camps. It started with normalising extremism, undermining institutions, and persuading people that democracy was the problem, not a solution.