AQA GCSE History key terms

An organisation that trained boys in Nazi beliefs, obedience and skills intended to prepare them for military service.

A network of supply routes through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia used to move troops, weapons and supplies from North Vietnam to communist forces fighting in the south.

The persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.

A formal acknowledgement of a lord’s authority by someone owing him loyalty.

An 1862 US law allowing settlers to claim 160 acres of public land and gain ownership after living on and improving it for five years, subject to fees.

A settler who established a home and farm on land claimed under homestead legislation, gaining ownership by meeting its conditions.

A makeshift settlement of shelters built by homeless Americans during the Depression, named to blame President Hoover for their hardship.

A direct communications link established between Washington and Moscow after the Cuban Missile Crisis to help leaders communicate quickly during emergencies.

Highly trained professional warriors who formed the core of an Anglo-Saxon king’s army and fought on foot, often using large battle-axes.

An institution where people considered idle or disorderly could be confined and made to work.

The royal family to which Henry VIII and his children Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I belonged.

The House Un-American Activities Committee, established in 1938 to investigate activities regarded as threatening to the United States.

A London-based fur-trading company granted a royal charter by Charles II in 1670, claiming exclusive trading rights across the land drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay.

An alarm raised to summon the local community to pursue a suspected offender.

A French Protestant, belonging to a religious minority persecuted in France.

Basic freedoms and protections to which people are entitled, including freedom of expression and protection from persecution.

A medieval administrative district containing several local communities.

Records of Edward I’s investigations into local administration, abuses of power and royal lands and rights.

A series of wars between England and France from 1337 to 1453, interrupted by periods of peace.

Refusing food as a form of protest, used by imprisoned suffragettes.

A short, concentrated artillery bombardment intended to disrupt enemy defences before an attack.

An extremely rapid, uncontrolled rise in prices that sharply reduces the purchasing power of money.

The International Atomic Energy Agency: the international organisation whose inspectors investigated whether Iraq had revived its nuclear weapons programme.

An approach to medicine that used chemistry to explain bodily processes and develop remedies.

An intercontinental ballistic missile: a long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads between continents.

People's sense of belonging and their understanding of who they are, shaped by experiences, traditions and relationships with others.

A set of beliefs about how society, government and the economy should be organised.