What do you think about Gavin Menzies and his book 1421? Is he a dabbler or an amateur historian but telling truths?

The Allies started the strategic bombing campaign in 1942. Was it really significant enough to justify the destruction of artifacts such as the only fossils of the spinosaurus. Was it really significant at all?

Honestly there's not a lot of medieval information on the internet and I'm curious about a few questions.

Did medieval guards get breaks from training and/or guarding and when?

Although the guard job was generally volunteer work, could they actually get a break when they needed it? Say on a sick day, how much time they get for resting hours, possible lunch breaks? I'd prefer information from medieval England, medieval Roman, or any possibly related Medieval Times country or state is useful. For lunch hours how long would they be, where would they be, etc.

I'm curious because I'm a writer and my current novel is a Medieval Fantasy (not a classic concept though) and I'd like to follow history fairly accurately without going with the cliche "Knight saves princess, Knights being noble and kind". I know cliches can be saved with how you approach it but I tend to try to avoid the biggest cliches there are.

Thanks for your responses!

The area of Scotland known as Lothian (where the capital Edinburgh is located) was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and the Scots dialect developed from Old English. What caused the people in this area to identify as Scottish and how did this area shift from English control to being a part of Scotland?

Was it ever officially recognized as a genocide by the government or any other organizations?

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I'm currently studying the history and the development of civilizations in the Old World, and I am trying to organize my understanding of historic cultures. The Silk Road (including the maritime trade routes through the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean) connected large parts of Afro-Eurasia and quickly spread civilization along its paths. However (and correct me if I'm wrong) urbanization/civilization spread later to cultures in Northern Eurasia, such as the European Pagans (Celts, Vikings, Slavs, etc.), the Steppe Nomads (Scythians, Huns, Mongols, etc.), and the Arctic Peoples (Siberians, Sami, etc). I'm curious if there is some connection or shared exonym across some or all of these cultural regions? I know they practiced very different lifeways (agriculture, pastoralism, hunting/fishing), but considering their slightly similar roles in history (as non-urban, largely illiterate invaders, and later victims of imperialism) compared to the civilizations to their south, I was wondering if they might represent a broader super-region?

It's fascinating to me that Beethoven composed some of his best music after he lost his hearing. I assume it was gradual and so he could probably get by for a while, but at some point he was completely deaf yet he could still compose music. Was he able to just do everything from memory?

Specifically from 1500-1540. Thank you.

Do we have any written primary accounts or artwork by the first Chinese goverment or emperors court, to find out that Britain and its people came from an island really, really far away and what did they make of its culture, history, fauna, flora, society, religion, monarchy etc... and for the rest of western Europe in general if I can score any bonus info answers,

Cheers

isn't it's defense from being eaten supposed to be its spice?

The new mexico territory was part of Spain then Mexico before it became a territory in the mid 1800s.

I'm doing some family genealogy research and I was curious as to how this process occurred for what has been reported as tens of thousands of citizens who became part of a new nation over night.

Was citizenship granted when they were admitted as a territory or was it later when they became a state in 1912?

Are there records or rolls of the individuals who went through the process?

Conscription wasn’t introduced to Ireland in WW1. I would like to know why, even as the British grew desperate for men as the war progressed

The somewhat of a common trope from gothic horror (Dracula, Amnesia,..) is that a single menacing figure inhabits what in other cases is an empty/decaying castle. But how close is this trope to real life? How common was it for castle to be inhabited by no more than 4 people?

So I am Turkish and what we are taught is basically this: Greeks were killing Turks then Turkey intervened and secured north of the island. I want to know how accurate is this.