History key terms

An agreement to stop fighting; it does not necessarily settle the underlying political disputes.

To formally transfer control of territory to another country.

The 300 armed men whom Romulus kept as his personal guard in both peace and war.

Remaining unmarried and abstaining from sexual relationships, as required of clergy under Church rules.

The inner chamber of a temple; the Parthenon’s chamber housed the statue of Athena Parthenos.

Official control over what may be published or performed, including the approval or alteration of play scripts.

A formal expression of disapproval by an organisation. The US Senate censured Joseph McCarthy in December 1954.

A registration of citizens and their property, used to determine their obligations to the Roman state and their position within its organisation.

A record from an official population count, containing information about people and households, including occupations.

The concentration of authority in the king’s hands rather than allowing regional nobles to exercise power independently.

A system in which the main authority is concentrated in the ruler and officials act under that ruler’s control.

Government in which authority is concentrated in the ruler and central administration rather than widely shared with local powers.

An economy in which the state directs production and allocates resources rather than leaving these decisions mainly to competing private businesses.

An economic system in which the government decides production priorities, allocates resources and sets targets.

The First World War alliance comprising Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire.

An officer in the Roman army commanding a unit of soldiers called a century.

A grouping of Roman citizens used for military organisation and voting. In the voting system, citizens were organised into centuries rather than each individual having an equally influential vote.

An ordinary free person in Anglo-Saxon society, often a peasant farmer. Ceorls could still owe rent or work to a lord.

Free peasants in Anglo-Saxon England who farmed land and could have obligations such as rent and military service.

A pit used to collect sewage and other waste.

The system through which military orders pass from senior commanders to the officers and troops who carry them out.

The organised system for treating and moving wounded soldiers from the front line to progressively better-equipped medical facilities.

The head of the German government, appointed by the President during the Weimar Republic.

A difference over time in a historical feature, such as weapons, army organisation or the experience of war.

A religious foundation supported by donated property or money to pay priests to say prayers and Masses for the souls of the dead.

A priest who serves a household or institution, conducting religious services and sometimes undertaking administrative work.

A document granting specified rights or privileges, such as permission for a town to hold a market.

A business granted a charter by a ruler or government giving it particular trading rights or other privileges.

A nineteenth-century movement that campaigned for the six political reforms set out in the People’s Charter.

A form of slavery in which the law treats enslaved people as property.