

History Dispatches
Matt and McKinley Breen
History Dispatches is a daily history show hosted by father and son duo Matt and McKinley Breen. The show covers people, places, events and even objects from throughout history. While any topic is fair game, Matt and McKinley hold a soft spot for the offbeat and wacky stories that most people don’t know about.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 26, 2025 • 21min
Bleeding Kansas
While the American Civil War would answer the question of slavery once and for all, its bloody overture would take place five years earlier, when the territory of Kansas would go to war with itself to determine if it should be a free or slave state. It was a brutal guerrilla conflict that would claim dozens of lives. This is the story of Bleeding Kansas.
Sources
"Bleeding Kansas" by Nicole Etcheson
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas#/media/File:The_Tragic_Prelude_John_Brown.jpg
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
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Sep 25, 2025 • 21min
The Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza is one of the most famous monuments of antiquity - and nearly every person has heard about it - and seen it. But what is the history of the Sphinx? When was it built? And why? This is the story of the Great Sphinx of Giza.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sphinx_of_Giza
https://www.history.com/articles/the-sphinx
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sphinx-and-the-Pyramids-of-Ghiza-by-Facchinelli,-BNF-Gallica.png
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 24, 2025 • 23min
Enron Scandal
For more than a decade, the energy company Enron was at the top of the food chain. Named Forbes most innovative company six years in a row, it had a stock price of nearly a hundred dollars a share. The company was raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. Or so everyone thought. Then, in late 2001, the entire house of cards came crashing down - destroying a company and the savings of thousands of people. This is the story of the Enron Scandal.
Sources
"The Smartest Guys in the Room" by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind
Images:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jeffrey_Skilling_mug_shot.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ken_Lay.jpg
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 23, 2025 • 29min
Trial of the Amistad
53 Africans - taken illegally from their homes - revolted on a ship - the Amistad - bound for a slave plantation in Cuba. But taking control of the ship did not mean they were free. They ended up on the shores Long Island, and what followed were legal proceedings that would determine the life - or death - of these men. This is the story of the Trial of the Amistad
Sources
"Mutiny on the Amistad" by Howard Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._The_Amistad
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 22, 2025 • 18min
Revolt on the Amistad
In 1839, 53 captives, mostly taken from modern day Sierra Leone, were being transported to a plantation in Cuba aboard the Amistad. Lead by Sengbe Pieh, the African revolted, and took command of the ship. They tried to bring the ship back to Africa, but would instead end up off the coast of Long Island - setting the stage for a dramatic trial that would mean life or death. This is the story of the revolt on the Amistad.
Sources
"Mutiny on the Amistad" by Howard Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Amistad
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Amistad#/media/File:Amistad_revolt.jpg
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 19, 2025 • 33min
Battle of Teutoburg Forest
Over 2,000 years ago, through dense woods, fog and swamp, 20,000 Roman soldiers marched through Teutoburg Forest, Germania, on routine assignment. What followed was not only disaster for them, but marked a turn in the entire Roman empire. Through cunning and deception, the German leader, Arminius, led an ambush that slaughtered three entire legions, cementing freedom for the Germanic tribes and permanently shifting foreign policy in the Roman empire. This is the story of the massacre of Teutoburg Forest.
Sources
The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest", by Peter S. Wells
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Akvy_Secstievy_Battle.jpgg
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 18, 2025 • 17min
Spice Islands
One of the most valuable - and most fought over - items in history - has been spices such as cloves, nutmeg, and mace. And no place has caused as much greed and desire as five small islands in the Far East. This is the story of the Spice Islands.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maluku_Islands
https://lombokdiaries.substack.com/p/the-spice-islands
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Willem_Blaeu00.jpg
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 17, 2025 • 19min
Gombe Chimp War
From 1974 through 1978, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in Tanzania, two small tribes engaged in ambush, beatings, murder, and cannibalism. By the end, every male in one tribe was dead, and the other tribe conquered their territory. It is a story that doesn't sound that unusual, except for the fact that the participants in this war were chimpanzees. This is the story of the Gombe Chimpanzee war.
Sources
"Through a Window" by Jane Goodall
Image: https://www.pexels.com/photo/chimpanzee-on-green-grass-4179455/
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 16, 2025 • 13min
Moina Michael: the Poppy Lady
In November of 1918, American educator Moina Michael was inspired by the battlefront-theme poem "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian John McCrae. The lines "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses row on row," moved her - and Michael vowed to wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in the war. And that would begin a tradition that endures to this day - with people from all over the world wearing poppies to commemorate those who have lost so much.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moina_Michael
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6133312.stm
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poppy-Memorial-1948.jpg
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 15, 2025 • 13min
The Pepsi Navy
In 1989, the Soviet Union, under President Mikhail Gorbachev, wanted to ensure the soft drink Pepsi kept flowing to the empire. Unfortunately, the USSR lacked the money or goods to realistically trade with PepsiCo, so instead they swapped 17 submarines and three warships in exchange for the syrup. This, according to legend, made Pepsi the commander of the world's 6th largest navy.
Sources
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/27/pepsi-navy-soviet-ussr/
History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com
Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices


