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.
1–32 of 32 terms · B
Clear filtersBabylonian
relating to Babylon and Babylonia, a major Mesopotamian city and kingdom in modern Iraq.
Balkans
a region of southeastern Europe including countries such as Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, and others.
baptism
a Christian rite of initiation that publicly marks entry into the Christian community.
barbarian
a Roman and Greek label for peoples outside the empire's cultural and political order, often used with prejudice.
bards
learned Celtic poets and performers who preserved praise, memory, genealogy, and tradition through spoken verse and song.
Battle of Ain Jalut
a 1260 battle in Palestine where the Mamluks defeated a Mongol force and halted further westward expansion.
Battle of Yarmouk
the 636 battle in which Arab Muslim armies defeated Byzantine forces and opened Syria to Islamic rule.
Bavarian
relating to Bavaria, the southern German state where Munich became the early base of Nazism.
Beer Hall Putsch
Hitler's failed 1923 coup attempt in Munich.
Beijing
the Qing imperial capital that Anglo-French forces entered during the Second Opium War.
Beijing Olympics
the 2008 Olympic Games used by China as a global showcase of confidence, wealth, and state capacity.
Berlin Conference
the 1884-85 meeting where European powers set rules for claiming African territory without African participation.
Bill of Rights
the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, protecting liberties such as speech, religion, and due process.
Black Power
a varied set of demands for Black pride, independent organisation and greater control over political and community life.
Blackshirt squads
Fascist paramilitary groups in Italy that used organised violence against socialists, trade unions, and political opponents.
blitzkrieg
fast, concentrated warfare using armor, aircraft, and movement to overwhelm opponents.
blockade
the use of naval or military pressure to cut off movement, trade, or supplies.
Boer
Dutch-descended settler communities in southern Africa, later called Afrikaners.
Bolshevik
a member or supporter of the revolutionary party led by Vladimir Lenin in Russia.
Bolshevism
the revolutionary communist movement associated with Lenin's Bolsheviks and the Soviet state.
bondage
a condition of being enslaved or held without personal freedom.
Book of Common Prayer
the English-language prayer book that standardised worship in the Church of England.
Boston Tea Party
the December 1773 protest in which colonists destroyed tea in Boston Harbor to resist British tea policy.
boycott
refusing to buy or use a service to press for change.
brigands
armed bands or outlaws, often imagined during the Great Fear as hired enemies of peasant communities.
Bronze Age
a period when bronze tools, weapons, and ritual objects shaped elite power and state formation.
Browder vs Gayle
the court case that overturned Montgomery bus segregation in 1956.
Brown vs Board of Education
the 1954 Supreme Court case that rejected racial segregation in public schools.
Bureaucracy
a system of officials, records, and rules used to manage a large organization or state.
Byzantine Empire
the eastern Roman Empire centered on Constantinople, lasting for centuries after the western Roman Empire fell.
Byzantines
a later name for the eastern Romans and their empire, centered on Constantinople.
Byzantium
the ancient Greek city on the Bosporus that later became Constantinople; also a common shorthand for the Byzantine Empire.
