Edexcel GCSE History key terms

A person who was not bound to a lord as an unfree peasant. This legal status mattered because Magna Carta did not protect everyone equally.

Armed volunteer units largely made up of former German soldiers; many held strongly nationalist, right-wing and anti-communist views.

The North American conflict of 1754–63 between Britain and France, involving colonial forces and Indigenous allies; it became part of the wider Seven Years’ War.

The advancing boundary of settler occupation in the American West; its declared closure in 1890 reflected the spread of settlement.

A trench nearest the enemy, used to defend a position and launch attacks.

An enslaved person who escaped or attempted to escape from enslavement.

An enslaved person who has escaped and is being sought for recapture.

The German word for ‘leader’, used as Hitler’s title when he combined the offices of President and Chancellor in August 1934.

The ‘leader principle’: the belief that a single leader should have unquestioned authority.

An Anglo-Saxon army raised for military service from local communities. Its members varied in training, experience and equipment.

An ancient Roman physician whose writings remained influential in medieval English medicine.

A large sailing ship used for trade and warfare, capable of carrying substantial supplies, cargo and guns.

The radical group comprising Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen, whose influence grew during the Cultural Revolution.

An older word for a prison, pronounced ‘jail’.

Charges that prisoners had to pay for aspects of their imprisonment, including fees demanded before release.

A group of soldiers stationed in a castle or another fortified place to defend it.

A bacterial infection of damaged tissue that causes tissue death and produces gas within the wound; it is not caused by a poison-gas attack.

A protective covering worn over the face to filter dangerous gases from the air being breathed.

The leader of a regional division of the Nazi Party, called a Gau.

A tax assessed on land, used by Anglo-Saxon kings and continued under Norman rule.

A section of DNA that carries instructions affecting how the body develops or functions.

The senior Communist Party official responsible for party administration. Stalin used this position to influence appointments and build support.

A widespread stoppage of work across different industries, used to put pressure on those in power.

The study of genes, inheritance and how inherited differences affect characteristics and health.

The 1954 agreements following France’s defeat in Vietnam, providing for a temporary division at the 17th parallel and elections in 1956 to reunite the country.

Landowners below the nobility in social rank, whose wealth and influence made them important in local government.

The East German state formed in October 1949 from the Soviet occupation zone of Germany.