A guide to the language of history
History glossary
Understand the people, places and ideas behind the stories. Find a term, read its meaning, then explore it in context.
37–52 of 52 terms · A
Clear filtersarmistice line
a military boundary created by an armistice rather than a final peace treaty.
arms race
competition between states to build larger or more advanced military forces and weapons.
Army Group North
the German army group assigned to drive through the Baltic region toward Leningrad in Operation Barbarossa.
Article 231
the Versailles clause that assigned Germany and its allies responsibility for wartime loss and damage.
Articles of Confederation
the first national constitution of the United States, creating a weak central government under strong state authority.
Assembly
the gathering of Athenian male citizens where major public decisions could be debated and voted on.
Aten
the solar deity elevated by Akhenaten during his religious reforms.
Athens
an ancient Greek city-state, now Greece's capital, known for democracy, naval power, drama, and philosophy.
attainder
a legal condemnation that could remove property and inheritance.
Austria-Hungary
the multiethnic Habsburg empire in central Europe that fought with Germany as a Central Power in the First World War.
autonomy
the power of a region, institution, or group to govern some of its own affairs.
Avars
a steppe-origin power in central Europe whose empire was broken by Charlemagne's Frankish campaigns.
Avignon papacy
the period when popes resided at Avignon rather than Rome, beginning in 1309.
Axis Powers
the wartime coalition led by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan.
Aztec Empire
a powerful Mesoamerican empire centered on Tenochtitlan, in what is now Mexico City.
Aztecs
the Nahuatl-speaking imperial power centered on Tenochtitlan before the Spanish conquest.
