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.
1–36 of 36 terms · R
Clear filtersracial segregation
the enforced separation of people by race.
radar
technology using radio waves to detect aircraft, ships, or other objects at distance.
RAF Fighter Command
the Royal Air Force command responsible for Britain’s fighter defenses during the Battle of Britain.
Raj
British Crown rule in India after the end of East India Company government.
Rajputs
warrior lineages and ruling houses in northwestern and northern India.
Rashidun
the first four caliphs in Sunni Islamic tradition.
readeption
Henry VI’s brief return to the throne in 1470–1471.
Reconstruction
the post-Civil War attempt to rebuild the United States and define freedom after slavery.
Records of the Grand Historian
Sima Qian's monumental history of China's past, combining chronology, biography, court history, and moral judgment.
Red Guard
student and youth groups mobilized during the Cultural Revolution to attack perceived enemies and old ideas.
Reformation
the religious movements that broke western Christianity into Protestant and Catholic churches.
reformations
sixteenth-century movements that challenged and reshaped western Christianity.
Regnans in Excelsis
the 1570 papal bull that excommunicated Elizabeth I and released her subjects from obedience.
Rehe
the imperial retreat north of Beijing where the Xianfeng Emperor fled in 1860.
Reich Citizenship Law
one of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws that stripped Jews of German citizenship and political rights.
Reichstag
Germany's national parliament during the empire and the Weimar Republic.
Reichstag Fire
the February 1933 burning of the German parliament building, used by Hitler as a pretext for emergency repression.
Renaissance
a cultural movement that renewed interest in classical learning, art, texts, and human-centered inquiry.
Reparations
payments or compensation demanded after war or wrongdoing.
Reparations Commission
the Allied body that fixed Germany's reparations bill and payment schedule after Versailles.
Republic
a state without a monarch, usually governed through laws, offices, and representatives.
republics
the constituent territorial units of the Soviet Union that became independent states in 1991.
resistance
organized civilian or military opposition to occupation or authoritarian rule.
Retinue
a group of attendants, servants, officials, or followers attached to an important person.
revisionist politics
politics aimed at revising or overturning a disliked settlement.
Revolution
a major and often sudden change in who holds power or how society is organized.
Rhineland massacres
the attacks on Jewish communities in Rhineland cities during the first wave of the First Crusade in 1096.
Ridda Wars
the wars fought by Abu Bakr to restore Medina's authority after Muhammad's death.
Rivonia Trial
the 1963-1964 trial that sentenced Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists to life imprisonment.
Roman Empire
the empire ruled from Rome and later Constantinople, spanning much of Europe, North Africa, and western Asia.
Roman law
the legal inheritance preserved and reorganised under Justinian, later influential in many civil law traditions.
Roman Republic
Rome's pre-imperial political system, run through elected offices, the Senate, assemblies, and elite competition.
Romanisation
the spread or adoption of Roman law, language, towns, customs, and material culture.
Rosetta Stone
an inscribed stone that helped scholars decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs because it carried the same text in three scripts.
Russkaya Pravda
the early Rus law code associated with Yaroslav the Wise and later princely legal tradition.
Russo-Japanese War
the 1904-05 war in which Japan defeated Russia over power in Korea and Manchuria.
