AQA GCSE History key terms

Moving or trading goods illegally to evade restrictions or avoid paying duties.

An ideology that misapplied ideas about biological competition to human societies, claiming that some peoples were naturally superior to others.

A political ideology seeking greater social and economic equality and collective control of economic resources rather than their control solely by private owners.

Stalin’s policy of building socialism within the USSR without making its survival dependent on successful revolutions abroad.

Alexander Dubček’s aim of keeping socialism while allowing greater freedom of expression and improving people’s quality of life.

Measures intended to improve people’s living conditions, welfare or treatment within society.

A house built from blocks of grass-covered earth, used where timber was scarce.

The authority to govern a territory. Britain and Argentina disputed which country should exercise this authority over the Falkland Islands.

A council of workers' and soldiers' representatives. In 1917, soviets exercised political influence and challenged the authority of the Provisional Government.

Councils of workers, soldiers or peasants. The Kronstadt rebels wanted freely elected soviets rather than councils dominated by the Bolsheviks.

A farm owned and run directly by the state.

Competition between the USA and USSR to achieve major advances in space exploration and demonstrate technological and ideological strength.

The Spanish invasion fleet sent by Philip II against England in 1588.

The Social Democratic Party: a German socialist party which campaigned for workers’ rights and democratic reform and became the largest Reichstag party in 1912.

An illegal drinking establishment operating during prohibition.

Buying an asset in the hope of making a profit from changes in its price.

Britain’s nineteenth-century policy of avoiding permanent European alliances while relying on its navy to protect its empire and trade.

The belief that microorganisms arise spontaneously from decaying matter, rather than coming from existing microorganisms.

The Schutzstaffel: a Nazi organisation led by Heinrich Himmler that developed from Hitler’s bodyguard into a major instrument of security, terror and racial persecution.

A campaign celebrating workers who greatly exceeded production targets, named after the coal miner Alexei Stakhanov.

A situation in which neither side can make a decisive breakthrough.

The institutions through which a country is governed and authority is exercised, including law-making and law-enforcement bodies.

The principle that individual states possess powers to manage their own affairs rather than having all decisions made by the national government.

A written law enacted under royal authority.

A law passed in 1351 which attempted to hold workers’ wages at pre-Black Death levels and restrict their freedom to move for better-paid work.

A law passed in 1285 that strengthened merchants’ ability to recover debts, helping to make trading on credit more secure.

Edward I’s settlement of 1284, which organised Welsh territory under direct royal control into six shire counties and introduced English-style administration and law, while retaining some Welsh legal practices.