History key terms

Priestesses of Vesta whom Numa supported with public funds and bound by a vow of chastity.

Special clothing worn by clergy when conducting religious services.

A person who has served in the armed forces, especially during a war.

Long-serving soldiers with experience of military campaigns.

The power of a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council to block a substantive resolution.

A disputed region between Normandy and the French king’s territories, important in the struggle between Richard I and Philip II.

A court dealing with maritime matters, including trade offences, which operated without a jury.

The deputy to the Chancellor, the head of the German government.

A representative who governs a territory on behalf of a monarch.

The French government led by Philippe Pétain, based in Vichy, which cooperated with Nazi Germany after France’s defeat in 1940.

A communist guerrilla movement fighting against the South Vietnamese government and its American allies.

The communist-led guerrilla fighters operating in South Vietnam against its government, US forces and their allies.

The Vietnamese independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh which fought Japanese occupation and then French attempts to restore colonial rule.

The Vietnamese independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh, which fought to end French colonial rule.

Nixon’s policy of gradually withdrawing US troops while expanding, training and equipping South Vietnam’s armed forces to take over the fighting.

A group of citizens who take law enforcement and punishment into their own hands outside the established legal system.

A person who punishes suspected criminals without lawful authority.

People from Scandinavia who undertook overseas raiding, trading and settlement; some established kingdoms outside Scandinavia.

An unfree tenant bound to a lord’s manor, owing labour or other obligations and unable to leave freely without permission.

The condition of being an unfree tenant under a lord, with restrictions on personal freedom and obligations such as labour services.

The name used in Norse accounts for land reached in North America around AD 1000; its precise extent is uncertain.

The name the English gave to a region of Atlantic North America in honour of Elizabeth I, the ‘Virgin Queen’. Roanoke Island was chosen for its first English settlement.

The British argument that MPs represented the interests of all British subjects, including people who did not elect them and colonists who had no elected MPs.

An inspection checking whether clergy and churches were following religious requirements.

Official inspections used to check whether clergy and churches were following the religious settlement.

A female seer in Viking society who was believed to possess magical and prophetic powers.

Education that develops the knowledge and practical skills needed for particular occupations.

The Nazi ideal of a national community united by loyalty to the regime and defined by racial exclusion.

A Nazi militia formed in 1944 which conscripted males aged 16–60 who were not already serving in the armed forces to defend Germany.

The simultaneous firing of weapons by a group of soldiers.