AQA GCSE History key terms

A joint federal and state programme established in 1965 to provide healthcare coverage for eligible low-income Americans.

A federal health insurance programme established in 1965 for Americans aged 65 and over.

An institution offering accommodation and care to people in need. Medieval hospitals often provided food, rest and religious support rather than effective medical cures.

An economic approach that sought to strengthen a country by accumulating gold and silver, exporting more than it imported, and controlling trade for its own benefit.

The belief that polluted or foul-smelling air causes disease.

The search for the particular microorganisms responsible for particular diseases.

The Atlantic crossing during which enslaved Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas.

The movement of people from one place to another to live or work.

Confrontational campaigning that can involve breaking the law or damaging property to put pressure on those in power.

The belief that a strong military and military values should dominate society and government.

Military personnel sent to advise and train another country’s armed forces.

The body associated with the Petrograd Soviet through which Trotsky coordinated armed forces and the seizure of key locations during the October/November Revolution.

An armed organisation outside the regular armed forces, often connected to a political, religious or local leader.

Digging beneath a wall’s foundations to make the wall collapse.

A plot of ground that a prospector asserted the right to work for minerals.

A Russian village commune that managed communal land, commonly divided among peasant households in scattered strips.

Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles: several warheads carried by one missile that can strike different targets.

A person who seeks to spread their religion; British Christian missionaries in Africa also undertook activities such as exploration and campaigning against slavery.

A priest sent to sustain or spread religious belief. Catholic missionaries in Elizabethan England supported Catholic worship despite the Protestant settlement.

An 1820 settlement providing for Missouri to enter the United States as a slave state and Maine as a free state, preserving the balance between them. It prohibited slavery north of 36°30′ in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory, except Missouri. This territorial restriction was repealed in 1854 and declared unconstitutional in 1857.

An economy combining state-owned enterprises with privately owned businesses.

The process of preparing and assembling armed forces for war.

The name later historians gave to Edward I’s assembly of 1295, whose broad representation became a model for later parliaments.

The transformation of an economy and society through developments such as industrial growth, new technology, improved transport and a more skilled workforce.

A religious community of monks, or the buildings in which they live, worship and work.

Lanfranc’s regulations for monastic worship, responsibilities and training, issued around 1077.

A religious way of life in which monks or nuns live in communities devoted to worship and follow religious rules.