OCR GCSE History A key terms

Deliberate damage to property or equipment to disrupt an opponent’s activities.

A sacred religious rite believed to convey God’s grace. The medieval Catholic Church recognised seven sacraments.

The gradual elimination of political opponents and takeover of institutions, allowing communists to consolidate power bit by bit.

The oath sworn at Old Sarum on 1 August 1086 by important landholders, including some subtenants, promising loyalty to William I above other men.

Restrictions on economic relations with a country intended to pressure its government into changing its policies.

Measures that maintain hygienic conditions, including the safe disposal of sewage and waste.

The South African Students Organisation, a student organisation established in 1969 that helped spread Black Consciousness.

A country that is formally independent but whose government is dominated by another, more powerful state.

A person or group unfairly blamed for problems caused by others or by wider circumstances.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference: a civil rights organisation led by Martin Luther King which worked with local campaigners to organise mass non-violent protest.

A payment made instead of providing military service owed through holding land.

The intelligence branch of the SS, which collected information about threats to the Nazi regime.

A tactic in which US troops searched areas for Vietcong fighters, bases and supplies and attempted to destroy them.

The further programme of relief and reform introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1935 to tackle continuing hardship during the Great Depression.

The wave of fear of communist influence and infiltration in the USA after the Second World War, leading to investigations, loyalty checks and restrictions on employment.

The Socialist Unity Party, which dominated East Germany's political system under Soviet influence.

The separation of groups through rules restricting where they live or how they interact.

The right of a people to make decisions about their own affairs rather than having those decisions imposed by outside authorities.

Relying on a community’s own labour and resources rather than outside assistance; this was central to the official presentation of Dazhai.

The legal doctrine upheld in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 that allowed racial segregation provided that separate facilities were equal. Brown rejected this doctrine in public education in 1954.

The National Party policy, developed under Hendrik Verwoerd, of assigning African ethnic groups to separate homelands and confining their political rights to those territories rather than granting equal rights in South Africa.

Independent merchants who participated in African trade outside the Royal African Company; the 1698 legislation allowed them to trade legally subject to a duty.

Living ordinarily in the UK without an immigration restriction on how long a person may remain.

A farmer who works another person’s land and gives the landowner a share of the crop as rent.

A system in which a tenant farmer pays the landowner rent through a share of the harvested crop.

A 1921 US law providing federal funding for prenatal, maternal and infant health education through public health nurses supervised by the Children’s Bureau.

A levy traditionally imposed on coastal communities for naval defence in emergencies, which Charles I extended to inland counties in 1635.

A county-sized administrative district used for government, taxation and justice in Anglo-Saxon England.