Dave Does History

In July 1913, fifty years after the cannons fell silent at Gettysburg, something astonishing happened. More than 53,000 Civil War veterans—old enemies who once charged at each other with bayonets and bullets—returned to the battlefield not for war, but for peace.

They came with canes instead of rifles, shaking hands across the same stone walls where they once fought and fell. The 50th Anniversary Reunion of Gettysburg wasn’t just a commemoration. It was a powerful act of reconciliation, a national moment of healing, and one of the largest veteran gatherings in American history.

In this episode of Dave Does History, we walk the dusty tent city, hear the heartfelt stories, and revisit the moments when North and South found common ground—literally. It’s a story of brotherhood, memory, and the American spirit at its best.

This is the Grand Reunion of Gettysburg, and it deserves to be remembered.

Caesar Rodney was no ordinary man. He was a physician, a farmer, and a military officer who had served in the Delaware Assembly. He was also one of the most ardent supporters of independence, but on the day of the vote, he was in Delaware, a 70-mile journey away from Philadelphia. Rodney had been in poor health and had been unable to attend the Continental Congress for some time. But on the day of the vote, he knew he had to be there. Delaware’s vote was still uncertain; the state had only two delegates in the Continental Congress, and one of them, Thomas McKean, was already in favor of independence. The other delegate, George Read, was firmly against it...

In this episode of Dave Does History, we travel back to 1774 and examine the moment when the British Crown pushed too far and the American colonies finally stood together.

Dave Bowman joins Bill Mick Live to explore the Intolerable Acts, a series of harsh laws meant to punish Massachusetts but which instead united the colonies in defiance.

From the closure of Boston’s port to the often-overlooked Quebec Act, Dave breaks down how these measures lit a fire across the continent. He also draws a powerful parallel to the 1497 Cornish Rebellion, showing how history often rhymes.

We’ll meet the Committees of Correspondence, dig into the Fairfax and Suffolk Resolves, and witness the gathering at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia.

This is the episode where thirteen voices become one—and that voice says, clearly, “Enough.”

Listen now and rediscover the moment when resistance turned into revolution.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we’re heading back to the summer of 1497, when a blacksmith and a lawyer led a march of 15,000 angry Cornishmen across southern England toward the gates of London.

Their mission? To protest a tax they didn’t believe in, imposed by a king they barely recognized, for a war they had no stake in. It all ended in blood at Blackheath, and with two bodies swinging at Tyburn.

But the story of Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank didn’t die with them. In fact, it lit a fire that still burns in the Cornish soul.

This isn’t just a story about rebellion—it’s about identity, resistance, and the price of standing up to power. So grab your pasty and raise your banner, because today we remember the men who dared to say no to the crown and earned a name that would never be forgotten.

In June of 1963, the Cold War stood like a concrete wall between freedom and tyranny—quite literally in Berlin. President John F. Kennedy, in one of the most electrifying moments of his presidency, traveled to the divided city to deliver a message not just to Germans, but to the world.

With the phrase "Ich bin ein Berliner," he declared solidarity with those trapped behind the Iron Curtain, turning a routine diplomatic visit into a timeless call for liberty. This was no mere campaign speech—it was defiance with a Boston accent, aimed squarely at the Kremlin.

In today’s episode of Dave Does History, we revisit Kennedy’s iconic speech from the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg. What did it mean then, and what does it still mean now?

Grab your metaphorical passport and prepare to cross through Checkpoint Charlie—we’re heading straight into the heart of Cold War rhetoric and the courage it took to speak it.

On a sweltering summer night in 1906, the rooftop theatre of Madison Square Garden became the stage for one of the most infamous murders in American history.

Architect Stanford White, a towering figure of Gilded Age New York, was gunned down in front of hundreds by millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw. The motive? A beautiful young model named Evelyn Nesbit, caught in a web of seduction, obsession, and revenge.

What followed was a media firestorm, a scandal that gripped the nation, and a courtroom spectacle dubbed the “Trial of the Century.” This wasn’t just a crime—it was a collision of wealth, power, vanity, and madness at the height of America's golden facade.

In this episode of Dave Does History, we unravel the twisted love triangle, the unstable mind of Harry Thaw, and the tragic fate of Evelyn Nesbit, whose beauty helped build an empire—and then watched it collapse in gunfire.

In this episode of Liberty 250, we follow Benjamin Franklin’s journey from loyal servant of the British Crown to committed American revolutionary.

It begins with the Hutchinson Letter Scandal, where Franklin’s attempt to ease tensions by quietly exposing colonial corruption backfires, igniting public fury and British outrage.

Then comes the Boston Tea Party—a dramatic protest Franklin condemns as reckless vandalism. But the Crown’s overreaction, in the form of the Coercive Acts, makes clear to Franklin that reconciliation is a fantasy. Humiliated before the Privy Council, stripped of his post, and cast out of polite society, Franklin crosses a personal Rubicon.

He returns to America not as a diplomat, but as a patriot. By 1776, he is helping draft the Declaration of Independence. Tune in as we trace the events that transformed one of the most reasonable men in the empire into a founding father of rebellion.

Before there were keyboards, before there were screens, there was the rhythmic clatter of metal keys striking paper.

In this episode of Dave Does History, we’re rolling back to June 23, 1868—the day Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for a curious contraption called the “Type-Writer.”

What started as a tinkerer’s solution to sloppy handwriting became one of the most transformative inventions in modern history. It reshaped business, opened doors for women in the workplace, and even taught generations how to write and think in rhythm.

But behind the clack of keys is a very human story—one of trial, error, jammed keys, and unexpected revolution.

Join us as we tell the tale of how a printer from Milwaukee helped usher in the age of modern communication, and how the legacy of his invention lives on every time you tap a key.

Spoiler alert: QWERTY was no accident.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we dive into one of the most chilling coincidences in military history.

Twice on June 22nd, Europe’s greatest powers launched full-scale invasions of Russia.

First, it was Napoleon in 1812, leading the mighty Grande Armée into the East. Then, in 1941, Hitler unleashed Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion force the world had ever seen. Both men promised swift victory. Both ended in disaster.

In this episode, we explore how two of history’s most powerful war machines were undone not just by winter and distance, but by arrogance, overreach, and the fierce resilience of the Russian people.

From the burning of Moscow to the snows outside Stalingrad, this is the story of how empires rise—and fall—when they underestimate the Russian steppes.

Stick around, because history isn’t just repeating here. It’s screaming a warning for anyone else foolish enough to try the same road.

He wasn’t a household name, but Brigadier General Enoch Poor was one of George Washington’s most trusted officers and a hero of the American Revolution.

Born a humble cabinetmaker, Poor became a successful shipbuilder, an early patriot, and a battlefield leader whose courage helped turn the tide at Saratoga and Monmouth.

But his death in 1780—officially from typhus, possibly from a secret duel—remains one of the war’s enduring mysteries.

In this episode, we peel back the layers of Poor’s life, from his dramatic elopement with Martha Osgood to his role in Lafayette’s elite corps, and explore why his name deserves a place alongside the greats.

With a funeral attended by Washington and Lafayette, and a legacy that still stirs the soil of Hackensack, New Jersey, this is the story of a forgotten general who gave everything for liberty—and who may have died not from disease, but from honor.