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 * English Glossary **


 * Abbot:** senior churchman (usually a monk) in charge of a monastery or abbey.


 * Abdicate:** to give up the throne, or other position of leadership. Usually used to make reference to kings or emperors.


 * Abolish:** to get rid of.


 * Abolitionist:** person who campaigned to get rid of slavery during the XIXth century.


 * Absolutism/absolutist:** type of government where the monarch has complete power.


 * Accountable:** being responsible for something and punished if it goes wrong.

**Acknowledged:** recognized or made known


 * Acquit:** to decide someone did not do something.


 * Acropolis:** the fortified, or strengthened, hill of an ancient Greek city. When spelled with a capital A, it specifically refers to the religious and civic center of Athens, the site of the Parthenon.


 * A.D.:** the abbreviation for the Latin term, //Anno Domini//, or "in the year of the Lord"; used with dates, makes reference to the events that took (and take) place after the birth of Jesus Christ.


 * Agape:** meaning "lovefeast". A common meal that was part of the central ritual of early Christian worship.


 * Agora:** a public market and meeting place in an ancient Greek city; the agora of Athens when spelled with a capital A.

**Aggrandisement:** glorification; empowerment.

Albigensians: thirteenth-century advocates of a dualist religion. They took their name from the city of Albi in southern France. Also called Cathars.


 * Alexander the Great:** the king of Macedonia from 336 to 323 B.C.; conqueror of Persia and Egypt and invader of India.


 * Alliance:** an agreement where each member country promises to help the other members if they are attacked.


 * Ally/Allies:** the member(s) of an alliance.


 * Alms:** (during the middle ages it was known as the) charitable donation of money or food for the poor.


 * Altarpiece:** a religious painting placed behind the altar in a church.


 * Amputation:** cutting off a limb, usually because it is infected.

Anarchy: without government or laws.


 * Anatolia:** the core territory of the Turkish Empire, covering most of the modern Turkish republic.


 * Anatomy:** the scientific study of the structure of the body.


 * Ancestor:** a person from whom one is descended, especially of a generation earlier than a grandparent.


 * Ancien Régime:** system of government in France before the French Revolution destroyed it in 1789.


 * Anglican Church:** Protestant Church of England.


 * Anglo-French colonial //entente//:** an understanding reached by Britain and France on colonial issues. Sometimes called the //Entente cordiale// because it led to the restoration of good Anglo-French relations.


 * Annates:** payments made by the Church in England to the pope every year, before King Henry VIII's Reformation in the XVIth century.


 * Anschluss:** a German word for "union". Specifically, the political union of Austria and Germany in 1938.


 * Anti-Capitalist:** hatred of capitalism, an economic system based on private property and private profit, on the grounds that it exploits workers.


 * Anti-Comintern Pact:**


 * Antidote:** medicine given to reverse the effects of poison.


 * Anti-semitism:**

Anvil: a large iron block used by a blacksmith when hammering and shaping objects.


 * Apostolic primacy:** the doctrine that the popes are the direct successors to the Apostle Peter and as such heads of the church.

Apostolic Succession: the Christian doctrine that the power given by Jesus to his original disciples have been handed down from bishop to bishop through ordination.


 * Appease:** to make concessions in order to prevent conflict.


 * Appeasement:** the name given to the policy of attempting to avoid war by making concessions. It is particularly associated with the Anglo-French policy of making concessions to Germany in the 1930s to avoid crisis that would lead to war. It assumed that Germany had real grievances and Hitler's aims were limited and ultimately acceptable.


 * Apprentice:** learner of an art, craft or trade who works with an expert for a number of years (often seven in the medieval guild system).


 * April Theses:** a document by Lenin which he read out to his supporters in Petrograd in April 1917. In it he insisted that Russia should leave the war and continue on the path of revolution by de-recognising the Provisional Government, transferring all power to the soviets and confiscating private land.


 * Aqueduct:** a structure that carries water over long distances.


 * Arbitrary:** unrestrained; exercising power without justification or legal backing.


 * Arbitration:** accepting the decision of an agreed third party to settle a dispute.


 * Archaeologists:** experts who study the remains of ancient civilizations that are buried in the earth.


 * Archbishop:**


 * Areopagus:** the governing council of Athens, originally open only to the nobility. It was named after the hill on which it met.


 * Arete:** Greek word meaning manliness, courage, and the excellence appropriate to a hero. It was considered the highest virtue of Homeric society.


 * Arianism:** the belief formulated by Arius of Alexandria (ca. 280-336 AD) that Jesus was a created being, neither fully man nor fully God, but something in between. It did away with the doctrine of the Trinity.


 * Aristocracy/aristocrat:** a nobility or privileged class.


 * Armada:**


 * Armistice:** an end to fighting; a cease fire before a peace treaty has been signed.


 * Arms race:**


 * Artefacts:** everyday objects.


 * Artillery:** guns and cannons.


 * Artisan:** a worker who is especially skilled in crafting items by hand; skilled craftsman.


 * Aryan:** Nazi term for a non-Jewish German; technically, someone who speaks an Indo-European language.


 * Aryanise:** to remove non-Aryan elements form German society: to get rid of the Jews.


 * Asia Minor:** modern Turkey. Also called Anatolia.

Assassination: the murder of an important politician or a monarch.


 * Assembly:**

Assignats: certificates issued by the revolutionary government in France, which came to be used as a form of paper money.

**Assimilating:** become similar to one’s environment; to make similar


 * Associated power:** the USA was not bound by any treaties with Britain and France, 1917-19, and was free, if necessary, to pursue its own policies.


 * Astrologer:** person who studies the effects of the stars and planets on human beings.


 * Astronomy:** the science of the study of space including the planets and stars.


 * Athens:** a city-state in ancient Greece, the capital of present-day Greece.


 * Atlantic Charter:** statement of basic principles issued jointly by Roosevelt and Churchill in 1941.


 * Atomists:** school of ancient Greek philosophy founded in the fifth century BC by Leucippus of Miletus and Democritus of Abdera. It held that the world consists of innumerable, tiney, solid, indivisible, and unchangeable particles called atoms.


 * Atrocity:**


 * Attica:** the region of Greece where Athens is located.


 * Augustus:** the title given to Octavian in 27 BC and bore thereafter by all Roman emperors. It was a semi-religious title that implied veneration, majesty, and holiness.


 * Autarchy (also autarky):** economi self-sufficiency.


 * Authoritarian:** tyrannical; belief in government by a strong, non-democratic leader.


 * Autocracy:** a system where one person has the power to rule absolutely (without any restrictions), as in Tsarist Russia.


 * Autonomy:** self-rule.


 * Auxiliaries:** foreign troops used to fight for a country at war.

Axis: the alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Also called the Pact of Steel.


 * Glosario en español **


 * Absolutismo:**


 * Acciones:**

Arbitrio:

Asilo político:


 * Avenimiento:**