Edexcel GCSE History key terms

A supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War.

An order issued by the monarch. It was not the same as an Act of Parliament.

A society founded in 1660 which brought scientists together to share and discuss discoveries and published scientific ideas.

The monarch’s authority as head of the Church of England, replacing the authority of the pope.

The royal store of money and valuables, which provided resources for government and military action.

The theft of livestock, especially cattle or horses.

The Nazi Party’s paramilitary organisation, also known as the Brownshirts, which used street violence and intimidation against opponents. Ernst Röhm led it.

A religious ceremony understood to convey God’s grace, such as baptism or Communion.

A tax raised to finance the crusade. Those who went on crusade were exempt from paying it.

A section of a battlefront that projects into enemy-held territory, leaving it exposed to attack from several directions.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks: negotiations between the USA and Soviet Union intended to restrict strategic nuclear weapons systems.

Protection from arrest offered to someone taking refuge in a church or other recognised religious place.

The provision of clean conditions, particularly through safe water supplies and the removal of sewage and waste.

An Eastern European country formally independent of the Soviet Union but heavily influenced by it in its government and foreign policy.

The use of humour, ridicule or exaggeration to criticise people, institutions or social conditions.

An individual or group blamed for problems they did not cause.

Blaming a person or group for wider problems for which they are not responsible.

A tightly packed defensive formation of infantry holding long spears outwards to resist attacks, especially by cavalry.

The investigation of the natural world through observation, evidence and experiments.

The widening gap in 1923 between high industrial prices and low agricultural prices, which made manufactured goods expensive for peasants relative to their earnings from farm produce.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organisation led by Martin Luther King which used non-violent campaigning.

The headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, from which senior officers and specialist detectives helped direct investigations.

Testing people for signs of disease before they necessarily have symptoms.

Money paid to the king instead of providing the knights owed through military service. The payment depended on the number of knights due.

US missions to locate and attack enemy forces and destroy their bases and supplies.

The renewed period of hostility between the USA and Soviet Union following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and during Reagan’s first presidential term.

A court administered by non-religious authorities rather than the Church.