Was gunpowder adopted quickly, or did it take a while for the technology to start being used? What countries were the first ones to get this technology? At first, did the Europeans simply copy Mongolian and eastern designs, or were European innovations quickly implemented?

Any good reads or articles about this would be great, too!

I know what happens when a tree falls, because I can visualize it quite vividly. But the metaphorical "falling" of empires is not so easy for me to grasp.

As far as I can tell it has something to do with the following:

• A decline in population for the given extent of the empire.
• A breaking apart of bureaucracy, government, trade into more, smaller areas. (E.g. Instead of both areas A and B being "ruled" by the decisions of a small group in A, there arises a new group in B that makes decisions independent of A.)
• A reduction in the output and complexity of the economy. (E.g. Area A used to produce 1million trinkets, and now they produce only 12 trinkets; Area A used to produce 1000 different items, now they produce only 5 different items.)
• A loss of cultural and technical knowledge.
• A widespread change in values and opinions.

I'm sort of half guessing here. Reading the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire would probably make clear to me what Gibbon means of "falling" as it applies to the Romans. But is there a short explanation that makes sense of the "falling" of the British Empire, the USSR, The Third Reich, and the Persians, etc., or is it so case by case dependent that the question doesn't really make sense?

Since Spain had also a great naval culture, how does it come that I can't find Spanish sea shanties? Did we lost all data from them or was singing on ships forbiden? lol.

Edit: Sritish... meant to say British.

I can't think of any other region that does this, and the only reason I suspect for this is that it was a Scottish colony originally, and thus a compromise instead of using English or Scottish Gaelic or French.

The story on /r/worldnews about 8chan trolls dreaming up a Namibian whites-only colony has made me curious about whether South Africa was an attractive destination for racists in the past.

I had this thought today (I'm Catholic) that neither side seemed to be very kind to Catholics. Did Catholics of the time and place typically side with one over the other?

Are there any exceptional sources that you would recommend? Most American newspapers depict primarily German atrocities. Preferably these sources would show an American Perspective on the invasion, so things like bills and laws passed, embargoes made and such.

We do that for all other numbers (ie thirty-two). Why not for the teens?

If so, how?

I find it surprising that two peoples whose languages were so close and lived nearby each other NEVER interacted with each other, even through trade?

My apologies for such a long and multi-part question, really I'm trying to get a picture of the overall changes in Cold War strategy that came about as a consequence of the Wall coming down and the subsequent reunification. I see three big parts to this: the weaponry East Germany held, their territory, and the officers who may have defected as a result of reunification.

My understanding is that after the Wall fell, East Germany was in posession of a large number of weapons and technology made available to the Warsaw Pact states. Did West Germany and by extension NATO capture this technology was there anything new that they hadn't otherwise had access to? Or was the technology repatriated back to the USSR?

Furthermore, how was the overall strategy of defending Europe affected by the reunification? I'm aware of the Fulda Gap being a hotspot that it was thought that the USSR would take advantage of in terms of tank deployment, so obviously that changed. What other strategic gains did NATO see from this new territory?

Finally, how many officers and other military personnel defected to the West and is their any record as to how their intelligence affected NATO strategy? Were there any officers who went to other Warsaw Pact states?

If there are too many questions here I'd be happy to break them up into multiple threads.

• Have past Presidents ever had to deal with Terrorists factions similar to Al-Qaeda, IS, or Boko Haram?

• If "Yes", then how were these factions/groups dealt with?

• Was any policies put into place to deal with them?

• What was the outcome of these groups?

Thank you!

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Did gladiators really train for a specific master like they do in the series? It seems to me that this type of training would be more suited for soldiers, not indentured servants/slaves. Was gladiatorial sport a financial endeavor, or more of a criminal sentence like it is represented in other films?