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.
721–756 of 797 terms
Tiananmen Square
the central Beijing square where 1989 protests became a national crisis before military suppression.
Tigris
one of Mesopotamia's two great rivers, flowing through modern Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.
Tokugawa order
the political and social order of Tokugawa Japan before the Meiji Restoration.
Totalitarianism
a form of rule where the state tries to control politics, society, culture, information, and private life.
Tower of Babel
a biblical story about a great tower and the confusion of languages, often associated with Babylon.
Trade
the exchange of goods, services, or resources between people and places.
trade routes
networks that move goods, people, technologies, and ideas between regions.
Trade unions
worker organisations formed to bargain over wages, hours, safety, and rights.
Trans-Saharan trade
Long-distance trade across the Sahara linking West Africa with North Africa and the wider Islamic world.
translation movement
the Abbasid-era effort to translate and study major works from Greek, Persian, Indian and other traditions into Arabic.
treasonous
connected to betrayal of the monarch or state.
Treaty of Paris
the 1783 agreement in which Britain recognized the independence of the United States.
Treaty of Shimonoseki
the 1895 peace treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War and gave Japan Taiwan.
Treaty of Tordesillas
a 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal that divided claims to newly reached lands beyond Europe.
Treaty of Verdun
the 843 agreement that divided the Carolingian Empire among the surviving sons of Louis the Pious.
Treaty of Versailles
the 1919 peace treaty with Germany after the First World War.
Tribe
a social or political group based on kinship, identity, territory, or shared leadership.
tribune
a Roman office created to protect plebeian interests, with powers including vetoing harmful actions.
Tribute
payments or goods demanded by a ruler, empire, or dominant state from subject peoples.
Triple Alliance
the alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan that formed the political core of the Aztec Empire.
tsar
the title used by Russia's emperors before the Romanov monarchy fell in 1917.
Tudor Dynasty
the English royal dynasty that ruled from Henry VII to Elizabeth I.
Tudor rose
a combined rose emblem used to represent the union of the Houses of Lancaster and York.
Twenty-Five Point Programme
the Nazi Party platform announced in 1920, mixing nationalist, antisemitic, anti-Versailles, and social promises.
U-boats
German submarines used to attack enemy and merchant shipping during the First World War.
U.S. Senate
the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress, whose treaty vote was needed for American ratification.
Umayyad Caliphate
the dynasty that ruled most of the Islamic empire from Damascus beginning in 661.
Umma
a Sumerian city-state in southern Mesopotamia, probably near modern Tell Jokha in Iraq.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 antislavery novel that helped turn public opinion against slavery.
unconditional surrender
surrender without negotiated limits on the victor’s authority over the defeated power.
Underground Railroad
networks of people and routes that helped enslaved people escape toward freedom.
unequal treaties
treaties imposed on China under foreign pressure that granted privileges and limited sovereignty.
union
an organisation through which workers negotiate over pay and conditions.
Union of South Africa
the self-governing state created in 1910 by joining four South African colonies under white political control.
United Democratic Front
the broad anti-apartheid coalition launched in 1983 to connect civic, church, student and community struggles.
United Front
An alliance between rival political movements for a shared objective; Nationalists and Communists cooperated against regional military rulers and later Japan.
