History Vocabs

1) Subsistence economy: an economy in which people grow enough food to

feed only themselves
- China was largely a rural, subsistence economy in 1919 when it
was no longer an empire.
2) Communism: a political system developed from Karl Marx’s ideas
- Some China people began to look to communism as a way to
organise their country after removing its emperor.
3) Dismantled: taken to pieces
- The British Empire was dismantled in the 20th century when
countries like India and South Africa gained their independence.
4) Tariffs: taxes placed on goods that are made outside the country.
- The US placed high tariffs on imported goods, making them
expensive for US citizens to buy, which encouraged local sales.
5) Disembarked: brought ashore from a ship.
- Immigrants in first and second class had their papers checked on
board, but the poorer passengers were disembarked and checked
for their legal status and for diseases.
6) Tenements: low-rental apartment buildings, often of poor quality
- Many immigrants in the USA lived in tenements where
overcrowding and poor sanitation which caused tuberculosis were
common.
7) Political agitator: someone who stirs up public feeling about issues
- Andrea Salsedo was arrested for being a political agitator.
8) Executed: put to death
- Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927 because of
xenophobia.
9) Prohibition: the banning of the production and sale of alcohol in the
USA.
- During prohibition, many speakeasies were set up for illegal
drinking in Harlem.
10) Speakeasies: illegal drinking clubs set up during prohibition
11) Criteria: standards by which something can be judged.
 - One of the criteria suggested by Geoffrey Partington to see if
someone is significant is do they still affect us today.
12) Sharecropper: a farmer who rented the land he farmed by giving the
landowner a share of the crop as payment.
- Jesse Owens was the son of a Southern sharecropper.
13) Boom: time of economic prosperity.
- World War One led the US into an economic boom because they
sold many weapons.
14) Dustbowl: a desert-like region, where food cannot be grown.
- Over-farming and a drought in the 1930s in the Central Plains
turned the land into a dustbowl which caused the US economy to
collapse.
15) Haemophilia: a disease that prevents blood from clotting.
- Nicholas II’s son, Alexei, suffered Haemophilia.
16) Duma: the Russian parliament
- The Russian Duma met and more people had a voice in the
running of Russia because unrest had spread.
17) Product: an item made for sale.
- Karl Marx argued that capitalism led to more and more money for
only a few people who did not even create the product they were
selling.
18) Proletariat: the industrial working class
- Lenin argued that the proletariat needed to be educated because
religion and nationalism were ways to keep the poor obedient.
19) Embalmed: preserved using chemicals.
- When Lenin died, his body was embalmed and placed on
permanent display in Red Square, Moscow.
20) Nationalised: when factories are taken away from private owners and
run by the state. The profits then belong to the state.
- The Bolsheviks brought in a policy known as War Communism
which required all factories to be nationalised.
21) Cheka: the Russian secret police
- The Cheka arrested anyone accused of White support and
executed them
22) Proportional representation: a system which allocates seats in
parliament based on the percentage of votes received
- In Germany, MPs were elected using proportional representation
and Hitler was elected chancellor of Germany with around 43% of
the vote.
23) First past the post: a system where each party fights for individual
seats and the party with the most seats is given power
- Britain had an election system of first past the post and Mosley
was not able to gain any election success.
24) Blackshirts: uniformed members of the BUF (British Union of Fascists)
- Anti-fascists were attacked by Mosley’s blackshirts.
25) Yiddish: a language of Jewish people, which originated in Eastern
Europe
- In the east, the more traditional Jews spoke Yiddish and lived in
small villages.
26) Anti-Semitism: prejudice against Jewish people
- Many Germans supported Hitler because of his Anti-Semitism
views.
27) Integrated: part of mainstream society
- The Jews in the west were more integrated as they were educated
and worked alongside their fellow citizens.
28) Rearm: build weapons such as tanks or bombs
- Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles by announcing plans to rearm
and introduce conscription.
29) Conscription: the process of making all men join the army for a set
time
30) Demilitarised zone: an area where no German soldiers were allowed
to be stationed
- Hitler sent troops into Rhineland which as a demilitarised zone
31) Atrocities: acts of exceptional brutality and violence
- The Japanese Army performed wholesale atrocities and vandalism
during the Nanking Massacre.
32) Vandalism: wilful destruction of property
33) Barbarously: very cruelly
 - Many victims were bayoneted and some wounds were
barbarously cruel during the Nanking Massacre.
34) Plundering: wholesale theft of valuables
- The Japanese troops almost plundered the entire city in the
Nanking Massacre.
35) Sanctions: peaceful actions against a country aimed at forcing it to
change
- The League of Nations applied economic sanctions against Italy
when Mussolini wanted to invade Abyssinia
36) Abdicated: stood down
- In 1931, the Spanish king abdicated as conflicts between the rich
and poor grew, which led to the Spanish Civil War.
37) Coalition government: a government made up of different parties
who have agreed to cooperate
- Elections were held and a coalition government was set up after
the abdication of the Spanish king.
38) Compensated: given money to make up for their loss
- Tenant farmers were given the right to buy their land but the
landowners had to be compensated.