History key terms

A microscopic organism. Some microorganisms cause disease, but many do not.

The search for the particular microorganisms responsible for particular diseases.

A heap or area used for dumping household rubbish, animal dung and used floor coverings.

People whose position in society was associated with professional, business, managerial or clerical work, with considerable differences in income within the group.

The Atlantic crossing during which enslaved Africans were confined aboard ships in brutal and dangerous conditions.

People between the wealthy elite and the poor, including prosperous farmers, craftsmen and small business owners.

People between the nobility and the poorer labouring population in the social hierarchy, including prosperous merchants and professionals such as lawyers.

A person who moves from one country or region to settle in another.

A farmworker who moves between places to find agricultural employment.

The movement of people from one place to another to live or work.

Confrontational campaigning that can involve breaking the law or damaging property to put pressure on those in power.

Workers prepared to use determined industrial action, especially strikes, to press their demands rather than relying only on negotiation or parliamentary reform.

The belief that a strong military and military values should dominate society and government.

Military personnel sent to advise and train another country’s armed forces.

An agreement under which a captain recruited and led troops to serve the Crown for payment, also called an indenture.

A change in military organisation, recruitment, training, weapons or the ways armies fight.

Prestige and authority gained through success in warfare.

A government controlled by a group of military leaders.

The organisation of supplies, money, transport and materials needed to keep an army operating.

The body associated with the Petrograd Soviet through which Trotsky coordinated armed forces and the seizure of key locations during the October/November Revolution.

The organisation within the Petrograd Soviet through which Trotsky coordinated Red Guards, soldiers and sailors for the October 1917 uprising.

A body that heard applications for exemption from compulsory military service and decided whether to grant them.

An organised armed force drawn from a community rather than the regular national army.

Parliament’s measure of March 1642 claiming control over militia commanders, enforced despite Charles I withholding royal assent.

The lowest rate of pay permitted under a law or agreement.

Digging beneath a wall’s foundations to make the wall collapse.

A plot of ground that a prospector asserted the right to work for minerals.

The Nazi government department led by Joseph Goebbels that directed propaganda and controlled public information and cultural activity.

The Nazi government department established in 1933 and headed by Joseph Goebbels, responsible for communicating Nazi messages through media and culture.

A group living within a society whose ethnic, religious or cultural identity differs from that of the majority.