Edexcel GCSE History key terms

A nineteenth-century movement seeking parliamentary reform, including the vote for all adult men.

A system in which people are legally treated as property that can be bought, sold or inherited.

The Bolshevik secret police, established in December 1917 to combat opposition to the revolutionary government.

Treatment that uses drugs to kill cancer cells or slow their growth.

The monarch’s leading adviser and organiser of government, whose authority depended on royal favour.

A medieval warrior code which valued courage and loyalty, alongside ideals such as mercy, justice and generosity.

A disease spread through contaminated water that causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration and can rapidly become fatal.

The wider community of Christian countries and peoples to which medieval England belonged.

The Christian religious institution, whose clergy, courts and teachings exercised considerable authority in medieval England.

Religious courts which dealt with clergy and religious or moral offences, using punishments intended to encourage repentance and reform.

The Criminal Investigation Department: a specialist detective branch of the Metropolitan Police, established in 1878.

A system that disguises a message by replacing its letters or words with other characters or symbols.

A voyage all the way around the Earth.

Measures intended to protect civilians from attack and help them cope with its consequences, including shelters and emergency assistance.

People who are not members of the armed forces.

Freedoms such as freedom of expression and religious belief, which protect individuals from arbitrary interference by the state.

The rights that protect people’s equal treatment and participation in society, including voting and freedom from racial discrimination.

A war between opposing groups within the same country or empire. The Inca civil war involved Atahuallpa and Huascar competing for their father's throne.

A person who asserts a right to inherit a throne.

A declaration that a ruler or state has the right to govern a territory; it does not necessarily mean that effective control has been established.

Conflict between social classes with opposing interests. Mao believed continuing class struggle was necessary to prevent capitalism returning after the communist revolution.

Mercy that reduces or removes a punishment.

People ordained to carry out religious duties, including priests and bishops.

The requirement that priests remain unmarried and abstain from sexual relations.

The process in which liquid blood forms a thicker, solid mass.

Local armed groups, notably active in western England in 1645, which sought to protect their communities from the burdens imposed by both Civil War armies.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a British organisation launched in 1958 that campaigns against nuclear weapons.