History key terms

An amendment to the US Constitution requiring states to provide equal protection of the laws.

A Nazi economic programme launched in 1936 under Hermann Göring to prepare Germany for war and reduce dependence on imported resources.

A German questionnaire used during de-Nazification to investigate a person's political activities and involvement with the Nazi regime.

A surviving portion of an ancient work whose complete text has been lost.

The right to vote in an election; rules governing the franchise determine who can vote and how much influence their votes have.

The kingdom or empire of the Franks, covering much of modern France and neighbouring European territories. West Francia emerged from its division in 843.

A member of the Franciscan religious order, which followed the example of St Francis of Assisi.

A Catholic religious order whose friars followed the rule of St Francis, emphasising poverty, preaching and religious service.

Obtaining money or another advantage through deliberate deception.

A person of African origin who was not enslaved. Free Africans in early modern England included paid workers and people running their own businesses.

Healthcare for which patients do not pay when receiving the service, although it is funded collectively, principally through taxation.

A formerly enslaved person who had been legally freed.

An agency established by Congress in 1865 to help oversee the transition from slavery to freedom.

A programme adopted in 1955 by the ANC and its allies, calling for democratic government, racial equality and changes to the distribution of land and wealth.

The right of citizens of participating countries to move between them to live and work, subject to the applicable rules.

Civil rights protesters who travelled on interstate buses in 1961 to challenge continued segregation on journeys and in bus-terminal facilities.

People who had been enslaved and were now legally free.

A person who was not bound to a lord as an unfree peasant. This legal status mattered because Magna Carta did not protect everyone equally.

A peasant who was legally free rather than bound to a lord, and who could rent and cultivate land.

A US state in which slavery was prohibited by law; this did not mean that Black people enjoyed equal rights.

Trade between countries without restrictions such as protective import duties.

Armed groups of former German soldiers, many with extreme nationalist and anti-communist beliefs, active after the First World War.

The North American conflict of 1754–63 between Britain and France, involving colonial forces and Indigenous allies; it became part of the wider Seven Years’ War.

The Federal Republic of Germany: capitalist, democratic West Germany, established in 1949 and supported by the Western powers.

A member of a religious order who lives according to its rules and works among communities, often preaching and teaching.

An official status recognising a ruler or state as an ally of Rome. Cleopatra sought this recognition to strengthen the security of her rule.

A continuous horizontal band of decoration; the Parthenon’s Ionic frieze depicts the Panathenaic procession.

An area in which opposing armies fight during a war.

The shifting boundary of white American settlement in the West. Its declared closure in 1890 meant that the census no longer identified a clear, continuous frontier line.

A trench nearest the enemy, used to defend a position and launch attacks.