Dave Does History

On June 8, 1967, in the sunlit waters of the eastern Mediterranean, an American ship flew the Stars and Stripes over calm seas. Her name was the USS Liberty, a lightly armed intelligence vessel serving under the National Security Agency. She carried 294 crew members, including sailors, Marines, and NSA linguists trained in Arabic and Russian. That morning, the Liberty cruised peacefully, 13 miles off the Sinai Peninsula, well within international waters. Overhead, Israeli reconnaissance planes circled the ship multiple times. The Liberty’s crew waved. Some even saw the pilots’ faces. At least eight overflights occurred in the hours before the attack. No warnings were given. Nothing seemed out of place. Then everything changed.

It was June 7, 1776, a heavy summer day in Philadelphia. The streets simmered with tension, and inside the State House, the Second Continental Congress sat on the edge of history. The men in that room had argued, pleaded, and petitioned for peace, but now the moment had come to talk about war. Not just war with muskets, but a war of ideas, a war of separation. That morning, a tall Virginian named Richard Henry Lee rose to speak. What he offered wasn’t diplomacy. It was a clean and final break from Britain.

On June 6, 1918, in a quiet forest just thirty-nine miles from Paris, the United States Marine Corps stepped into history—and hell.

At Belleau Wood, fresh American forces met a hardened German enemy in a battle that would come to define the character of the Corps and the cost of liberty. It was the deadliest single day in Marine Corps history up to that time, with more than a thousand casualties suffered in wheat fields and tangled underbrush.

In this episode of Dave Does History, we revisit the grit, sacrifice, and command missteps of that brutal day. Through firsthand accounts and a close look at what went wrong—and right—we’ll explore how a blood-soaked forest in France became sacred ground for generations of Marines.

This isn’t just a story about war. It’s a story about courage, chaos, and what happens when liberty hangs by a thread—and men stand up to hold the line.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we take a long, hard look at one of the most controversial figures of the American West—Pat Garrett.

You probably know him as the man who shot Billy the Kid, but Garrett’s story runs far deeper than that single, fateful moment in a darkened New Mexico bedroom.

Born in Alabama, raised in Louisiana, and forged by the chaos of post-Civil War America, Garrett rose from cowboy to lawman, then fell into scandal, poverty, and betrayal. Along the way, he tangled with outlaws, politicians, and a few ghosts of his own making. He stood tall in a violent time, but by the end, he was a relic with more enemies than friends.

Was he a hero, a hired gun, or just a man caught in the shifting winds of a vanishing frontier?

Let’s find out together.

This is the life and legacy of Pat Garrett.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we take a closer look at one of the most misunderstood figures of the American Revolution, King George III.

To many Americans, he is the villain in powdered wigs and red coats, the tyrant Jefferson scorned in the Declaration. But the real George was far more complex, a young man thrust into power, wrestling with political chaos abroad and personal demons at home.

We will walk through his life, from his unexpected rise to the throne to the mental struggles that marked his later years. Along the way, we will explore how his image differed in Britain versus the American colonies, and even touch on how modern portrayals, like The Madness of King George, help reframe our understanding.

So grab a cup of tea—taxed or not—and let us unpack the man behind the crown, and why history may owe him more nuance than we were ever taught.

In this episode of Dave Does History on Bill Mick Live, we venture back to a sweltering chamber in colonial Virginia, where a fiery young legislator named Patrick Henry took the floor and lit a spark that would soon roar into revolution.

With the Stamp Act threatening colonial autonomy and the Sugar Act deepening imperial control, Henry stood defiant and drew a dangerous comparison—likening King George III to Julius Caesar. Accused of treason, he thundered back: “If this be treason, make the most of it.”

Dave Bowman takes us through the intellectual heritage of Roman republicanism, the American colonists’ understanding of tyranny, and how Caesar’s fate became a warning rather than a lament.

This is not just a history lesson—it’s a bold look at the moment liberty began to punch back. From tax stamps to treason charges, the road to 1776 runs straight through this moment.

Tune in, think hard, and remember—resistance began with a voice.

Today on Dave Does History, we are digging into a law that did not just ruffle feathers—it rattled rafters.

The Quartering Act of 1774, passed by a distant Parliament, gave royal governors the power to house British soldiers in uninhabited buildings across the colonies. To many Americans, it felt like a military boot stomping through the front gate. While it never quite put redcoats in the family parlor, it planted deep fears about government overreach and unchecked authority.

This was not just about barns and barracks. It was about control, property, and liberty. We will explore what the law said, how colonists reacted, and why this act became a key grievance in the Declaration of Independence.

Along the way, we will visit New Brunswick, New Jersey, where peace with the British army once reigned—before war changed everything.

Grab a seat. History just knocked on the door and asked for a room.

On this episode of Dave Does History, we set sail into the heart of the Atlantic for one of the bloodiest naval battles you have never heard of—the Glorious First of June.

It is 1794, and Revolutionary France is starving. A massive grain convoy from America becomes a lifeline, and the British Royal Navy is determined to cut it off. What follows is a brutal, chaotic clash between two great fleets, led by Admiral Richard “Black Dick” Howe and his French counterpart, Villaret de Joyeuse.

Ships collide, captains disobey, cannons roar, and one French vessel sinks beneath the waves in revolutionary glory.

But who really won? Was it the British with their captured ships, or the French who fed their people? Join us as we dive into a story of strategy, sacrifice, and a sea soaked in blood and gunpowder.

This is not just a battle, it is a war for survival.

It is one of the most overlooked inventions in modern science—a simple glass dish with a lid that quietly revolutionized the world.

In this episode of Dave Does History, we explore the life of Julius Richard Petri, the man whose name lives on in labs and classrooms everywhere. From his work alongside Robert Koch to the dish that bears his name, Petri’s story is a reminder that sometimes the greatest impact comes from the simplest ideas.

Join us as we examine how a small circle of glass became the launching pad for discoveries that still shape medicine and science today.

On this edition of Dave Does History, we revisit one of the most haunting and heroic moments of the medieval world: the execution of Joan of Arc on May 30, 1431.

She was just nineteen years old, a peasant girl who claimed to hear the voices of saints and turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War. She led armies, crowned a king, and frightened the powerful. Then, betrayed by allies and condemned by enemies, she was burned alive in the marketplace of Rouen.

But this is not just a tale of tragedy. It is a story of faith, fire, and the iron will of a girl who dared to believe she had been chosen by God to save her country.

Today, we pull apart the politics, the war, the trial, and the pyre to understand why her voice could not be silenced and why her flame still burns in history.