History key terms

Defiance expressed through activities such as music, dancing or lifestyle rather than an organised attempt to overthrow a government.

The political campaign launched by Mao in 1966 to attack alleged opponents and reshape Chinese society around revolutionary communist ideas.

The expression of a society’s beliefs, experiences and customs through activities such as art, literature, music and entertainment.

People believed to use magic to help others, for example through healing, charms, finding lost property or countering harmful spells.

An attendant responsible for serving a ruler’s drinks; this position provided close access to the ruler.

An order requiring people to remain indoors during specified hours, restricting movement and public gatherings.

Divisions of the Roman citizen population. Tradition credited Romulus with organising three tribes, each containing ten curiae.

The Norman royal council, whose leading nobles and churchmen advised the king; its name means ‘king’s court’.

The subjects taught in schools and the content pupils are expected to study.

The outer defensive wall connecting a castle’s towers and enclosing its interior.

A punishment that involves detention in a prison or another institution.

Taxes charged on goods entering or leaving a country or territory.

A tax on goods entering or leaving a country; Edward I collected customs duty on exported wool.

Money collected by the government from taxes on imports and exports.

Criminal activity carried out using computers or networks, including online fraud and extortion.

The idea that people can move into and out of poverty as their circumstances and the balance between household income and needs change.

An inscribed clay cylinder recording Cyrus’ account of his conquest of Babylon and his actions as its ruler. It presents his kingship as approved by the Babylonian god Marduk.

The German Labour Front, the Nazi organisation that replaced independent trade unions and controlled workers’ pay and conditions.

A land-revenue assessment system introduced under Akbar in 1580, using ten-year averages of agricultural production and prices to calculate cash payments.

The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader who also headed Tibet's government during the early 1950s.

A small school run by a woman, usually in her own home, providing elementary instruction and sometimes household training.

Tribute paid to Viking attackers in the hope of persuading them to stop attacking.

The area of northern and eastern England where Scandinavian settlement and rule established Danish legal customs.

An urban work unit that organised employment and access to services such as housing, while also monitoring political behaviour.

The German Workers’ Party, a small right-wing political party led by Anton Drexler that Hitler joined in September 1919.

The narrow sea passage connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, on the route towards Constantinople and the Black Sea.

A Scottish attempt to establish an overseas trading colony at Darien, on the Isthmus of Panama. Its failure caused deaths, heavy financial losses and resentment against England.

A law passed in 1887 that authorised the allotment of reservation land to Indigenous individuals and families and allowed remaining land to be opened to settlers.

The 1924 agreement that made Germany’s annual reparations payments more manageable and helped secure American loans.

A rural community in Xiyang County, Shanxi province, promoted by Mao in 1964 as a national agricultural model based on collective labour and self-reliance.