Episodios

  • Otumba

    Otumba
    Jul 7 2025
    On this episode of *Dave Does History*, we’re heading back to the summer of 1520, deep into the heart of Mesoamerica, where a broken band of Spanish conquistadors found themselves surrounded by thousands of Aztec warriors on the dusty plains of Otumba. Hernán Cortés was battered, outnumbered, and on the brink of ruin. What happened next wasn’t a miracle—it was desperation, steel nerves, and a reckless cavalry charge that changed history. Today, we’ll dive into the truth behind the Battle of Otumba, cut through the myths of Spanish superiority, and explore how the conquest of the Aztecs nearly ended before it began. This isn’t your high school textbook version. This is a story of betrayal, blood, and blind luck, and it just might change the way you see the so-called conquest of the New World. Buckle up. Cortés is cornered, and the empire is on the line.
    Más Menos
    7 m
  • The Father of the Navy

    The Father of the Navy
    Jul 6 2025
    So, was John Paul Jones a hero made by war, or was the war at sea made by Jones? The final judgment, as ever, lies with history. And Jones, more than most, knew where history gets written. Not in marble halls or courtroom ledgers, but on the open water, where wind and gunpowder do the talking, and names are carved into memory by the pounding of the sea. John Paul Jones carved his. And it hasn’t washed away.
    Más Menos
    9 m
  • The Last Love Letter

    The Last Love Letter
    Jul 5 2025
    In the summer of 1775, a strange kind of tension blanketed the American colonies. Blood had already been spilled at Lexington and Concord. Boston was under siege. The Continental Congress had raised an army and chosen George Washington to lead it. But amid the smoke and gunpowder, there was still something deeper smoldering. Hope. Not for victory, not for revolution, but for peace. A very specific kind of peace. The colonists still believed in the idea of a “Patriot King,” a benevolent monarch who would rise above Parliament’s tyranny and deliver justice from on high. That king, they hoped, was George III.
    Más Menos
    7 m
  • Unvexed to the Sea

    Unvexed to the Sea
    Jul 4 2025
    It was July 4th, 1863, and the stars and stripes flew again over Vicksburg, Mississippi. But this wasn’t a celebration. There were no parades, no fireworks, no songs of freedom. In fact, for 81 years, Vicksburg would skip Independence Day altogether. That morning, under a blazing Southern sun, a grim procession of exhausted Confederate soldiers stacked their rifles, furled their flags, and surrendered their city to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. The Civil War had reached its great turning point.
    Más Menos
    8 m
  • Hands Across the Stone Wall

    Hands Across the Stone Wall
    Jul 3 2025
    Fifty years after the Battle of Gettysburg turned quiet Pennsylvania fields into a brutal crossroads of war, something extraordinary happened. The veterans came back. Not to fight. Not to argue. But to remember. To stand together on the same ridges and fields where they had once tried to kill each other, and shake hands instead. More than 53,000 of them, Union and Confederate, answered the call for a reunion that would become one of the largest peaceful assemblies of former enemies in history.
    Más Menos
    8 m
  • Caesar Rodney’s Ride

    Caesar Rodney’s Ride
    Jul 2 2025
    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.
    Más Menos
    11 m
  • Air Burst Weapon?

    Air Burst Weapon?
    Jun 30 2025
    On the morning of June 30, 1908, something exploded over the Siberian wilderness with the force of a nuclear bomb—flattening over 80 million trees, lighting up skies across Europe, and shaking the Earth with a shockwave that circled the globe. But no crater was found. No rock. Just scorched forest and a century-old mystery. In this episode, we dive into the Tunguska Event, the most powerful impact in recorded history that left behind more questions than answers. Was it a comet? An asteroid? A warning shot from the cosmos? We’ll explore what scientists know, what they still debate, and why this event matters more than ever in our modern world. This isn't just a story about what happened in 1908—it's a story about what could happen tomorrow. So buckle up. The sky is not as quiet as we like to think.
    Más Menos
    7 m