I know that some form of wall is still used in military camps today (because it just makes sense to be behind some form of cover), but when and why exactly did town walls and fortresses become obsolete? Places like Nuremberg for example have kept their (mostly) medieval walls for centuries, but didn't really update them after some point in time. And towns like Ingolstadt even are fortress cities, but we don't see anything like that built in (roughly) modern times. So what development in warfare made people go "nah, walls aren't of any use anymore"?

More so, why black pepper and at what point did it shift from a spice that might be very expensive / rare to commonplace?

(I noted Western societies due to my own experiences - please do weigh in if it is prevalent elsewhere.)

Fleas, for example, would not be too hard to get rid of since they're external; however, how did pre-modern medicine people get rid of internal parasites such as intestinal worms? Did they just have to deal with them?

Growing up in England I heard the story of William the Conqueror and the battle of Hastings many times, but I always wondered what happened to Normandy. Presumably he didn't rule both, as he was quite an active king in England.

My understanding is that anti-submarine tactics were less effective during that time. So it stands to reason that they might have been a good weapon in reducing Allied naval superiority.

I've been really fascinated lately by the movement of Longstreet's troops from Gettysburg to Chickamauga. I've heard it described as one of the greatest logistical successes in the history of war. However I just realized that Longstreet returned to Lee's command for Grant's overland campaign. Was this trip anywhere near as impressive? Was it uneventful?

*Given that the king was a minor and the marriages of people like the Dowager Queen needed royal approval (they did marry in secret), how did the couple manage to get the royal pardon from the king and the Council?

*Also, what were the consequences when they first confessed?

*How did Lady Parr manage to maintain a household for the education of Elizabeth I and Jane Grey, despite the scandal of her marriage?

Edit: Edward IV, not Edward I

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The passage in question:

His own [country estates] were modest enough and less remarkable for their statuary and pictures than for their landscape gardening and the rarities on display: for example, at Capreae he had collected the huge skeletons of extinct sea and land monsters popularly known as 'giants' bones'; and the weapons of ancient heroes.

Had a long talk the other day with a colleague who used to work for the European commission and we learnt a lot from him. But at one point he said he didn't really know much about Japan in WW2., so I tried to explain briefly.

• Japan had a civil war
• The winner of that war tried to conquer China via Japan.
• He was foiled and then died.
• His successor closed off the country.
• Japan remained closed for a few centuries.
• China gets rocked by the opium wars
• (I can't believe I forgot to mention Commodore Perry and the Meiji restoration)
• Japan takes inspiration from the west, strengthens their country, and re-enters the world.
• They dust off Ieyasu's plan and conquer Korea and a few other places.
• They do very well and are encouraged by this.
• Eventually the country gets psyched up into a holy war to conquer the world (sort of).

He then commented that, as he suspected, they were largely separate and coincidental events to the Nazis. I didn't disagree, but I had never thought of it that way before. The only disagreement I can think of to connect the events is that they were both driven by nationalism and the great depression.

I've read that the French Basques were pursuing whales in the Banks of Newfoundland before Columbus discovered America. Is it true? What do we know?

I can't find much... I'd like to know more!

I understand about signals intelligence and being able to intercept radio transmissions, but how did the KGB or the CIA get their hands on each others cable traffic? Tape the physical lines? Raid the diplomatic poach or mail service?

Was it always that way? When did it change? And why? Or if it didn't change, why was it the original?

Note that I get this question probably is silly for non-american countries, so I guess as a follow up are there any places which never use salt and pepper on the table? Is it easier to make the list of places that do use it?

To understand Communism, you read Karl Marx and other works. To Understand Capitalism, you read Adam Smith.

Who and what do I need to read to Understand Fascist Theory and philosophy?

From what I could read, archeologists coined the three-age system because they could data civilizations according to the artefacts they could find. But the crops people eat and what animals they domesticate seem to be more important in the organization of their civilizations then their toolmaking capabilities. Or maybe I'm wrong and I'm ignoring the importance of warfare technology?

I recently started listening to the Cold War Podcast and I'm up to the episodes taking about the Cambridge Five. What was going on then that allowed the Russians to recruit so many effective spies from such a small location in a relatively short time period? It seems almost too good to be true (from a Russian view) that there were so many disaffected and communist-leaning students to choose from at the University.

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