Edexcel GCSE History key terms

An anti-ballistic missile: a missile designed to intercept and destroy an incoming ballistic missile.

The ending of slavery as a legal institution.

A campaigner for the ending of slavery or the slave trade.

A plantation owner who lives away from the plantation rather than supervising it in person.

A conscientious objector who refuses all involvement in the war effort, including alternative civilian work.

The beginning of a monarch’s reign.

The ability to obtain medical advice, care or treatment, affected by factors such as cost, location and availability.

A law passed in 1533 that prevented appeals to Rome, allowing Henry’s marriage case to be settled in England.

A parliamentary measure declaring someone guilty and imposing punishment without an ordinary trial.

A law passed by Parliament and approved by the monarch; also called a statute.

An Anglo-Saxon title for a prince of the royal family who could be considered eligible for kingship.

Measures that deliberately improve opportunities for groups disadvantaged by discrimination, for example by encouraging employers to recruit Black applicants.

A herbicide used by American forces in Vietnam to destroy vegetation and remove the Vietcong’s cover.

A farming organisation in which households pooled land and resources under common management. Early cooperatives retained private landownership; higher-level cooperatives replaced it with collective ownership.

A Nazi programme chiefly targeting adults with disabilities in institutions for murder, authorised by Hitler in October 1939. It was distinct from the child killing programme begun in 1939.

A medieval legal category for someone born outside England who was not an English subject.

Loyalty owed to a ruler or lord.

An agreement between groups to cooperate, particularly against a shared enemy.

The division of land held collectively by an Indigenous nation into separate plots allocated to individuals or families.

A surprise attack launched from a concealed position.

A financial demand made in 1525 without parliamentary approval to fund Henry VIII’s planned invasion of France. Resistance forced its abandonment.

A military operation in which forces approach by water and land to fight on shore.

A substance used to remove sensation, especially pain, during a medical procedure; a general anaesthetic makes the patient unconscious.

A breakdown of effective authority and order.

The study of the structure of the body, including its organs.

Practices honouring deceased family members, including offerings and tending graves, often based on belief in a continuing relationship between the living and the dead.

A corrugated-steel air-raid shelter installed partly underground and covered with earth, usually in a garden.