Edexcel GCSE History key terms

Individual or collective action to meet people's needs without relying on government assistance.

Reporting that emphasises shocking or dramatic details to attract attention, often through exaggeration or speculation.

The practice of sending urban young people or professionals to rural areas to undertake labour and political re-education.

The principle accepted in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 that racial segregation was lawful if separate facilities were equal. In practice, facilities for Black Americans were often inferior.

A prison system that kept prisoners isolated from one another to prevent harmful influence and encourage reflection and reform.

The belief that racial groups should live or organise separately. Black separatists argued that independence from white society would protect African Americans from racism.

The condition of peasants who were not fully free, were tied to a lord’s land and owed duties such as labour service.

Where people make their homes after moving, including the communities they form.

Israeli civilian communities established in territories captured by Israel in war. Their establishment helped strengthen Israel’s hold on occupied land.

A farmer who works another person's land in return for a share of the crop rather than a fixed wage.

An informal, usually unlicensed drinking and entertainment venue. In Notting Hill, Caribbean residents often held shebeens in the basements of their homes.

The wartime term for a range of psychological and physical symptoms associated with the strain and trauma of combat.

A royal official responsible for administration in a county, including collecting revenues for the king.

A defensive formation in which soldiers stood close together with overlapping shields, protecting one another against enemy attacks.

The king's representative in a shire, responsible for duties including collecting taxes, rents and court fines; also called a sheriff.

A dangerous failure of circulation in which too little blood reaches the body's tissues; severe blood loss can cause it.

A team of workers encouraged to achieve particularly high output and exceed production targets.

A staged public trial in which the verdict is decided in advance, used to discredit defendants and promote the government’s version of events.

Small metal pieces or balls scattered by exploding shells, which could penetrate the body and cause serious wounds.

Negotiation in which a mediator travels between opposing governments to develop agreements, rather than relying on their leaders meeting directly.

An attempt to capture a defended place by surrounding it, restricting its supplies and attacking its defences.

Nixon’s term for Americans whom he claimed did not join anti-war demonstrations but quietly supported his policies.

A nickname for Francis Drake’s raid on Cadiz in April 1587, which damaged Spanish invasion preparations and humiliated Philip II.

A protest in which people occupy a place, such as a segregated lunch counter, and refuse to leave.

A Jamaican musical style that combines a distinctive offbeat rhythm with instruments including horns and trumpets.

A set of laws regulating enslaved people and slave owners, used by colonial authorities to maintain slavery.

A system in which people are held as property, forced to work and denied personal freedom.