| Campaign fought by the Catholic Church against the Cathars in the Languedoc,
1209–29 (the Cathars believed in two gods – one of the world, representing power, and one of pure spirit, representing love) |
 |
Albigensian Crusade |
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary ...
We hold these truths to be self–evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." |
|
American Declaration of Independence |
| Name given by historians to a long period of civil strife following the death of Henry I in 1135 – when his
nephew Stephen of Blois seized the throne, against Henry's expressed wish to be succeeded by his daughter Matilda (Stephen's cousin) |
|
The Anarchy |
| Hitler's "inclusion" of Austria into Germany in 1938 |
|
Anschluss |
| Signed by Germany and Japan, 1936; Italy joined 1937 |
|
Anti–Comintern Pact |
| Founded in Manchester, in 1838, by Richard Cobden and John Bright |
|
Anti–Corn Law League |
| Agreement of August 1941 between Churchill and Roosevelt, establishing a vision for the world after
World War II |
|
Atlantic Charter |
| Series of treaties between Scotland and France, from 1295, against English aggression |
|
Auld Alliance |
| Name for the Italo–German alliance, coined by Mussolini in 1936 |
|
Axis |
| Assurance given by the British Foreign Secretary (1916), confirming British commitment to the
establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine |
|
Balfour Declaration |
| 1985 confrontation when police prevented new age travellers from holding the 14th Stonehenge Free Festival |
|
Battle of the Beanfield |
| One of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe in the years 1346–53: believed
to have been caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium |
|
Black Death |
| Popular name for the dungeon in what was then the capital of British India, in which 146 British soldiers and
East India Company employees were allegedly held overnight by Indian troops in 1756, only 23 surviving
|
|
Black Hole of Calcutta |
| Popular name for the events of 30 January 1972 in Londonderry, when members of the British army
shot at unarmed "civil rights" protesters, killing 13 |
|
Bloody Sunday |
| Florence, 1497: followers of Savanarola burned objects connected with vanity, including mirrors,
cosmetics, immoral books, paintings |
|
Bonfire of the Vanities |
| Popular name for the political protest at Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 December 1773: involved three ships –
the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver |
|
Boston Tea Party |
| Treaty of March 1918, between Russia and Germany, that ended the former's involvement in
World War I – named after the city (now in Belarus) where it was signed |
|
Brest–Litovsk (Treaty of) |
| 1924 event for which Wembley Stadium was built |
|
British Empire Exhiition |
| Caused the downfall of Portugal's 46–year military dictatorship (1974) |
|
Carnation Revolution |
| Official name of the republic that ruled England (later Scotland and Ireland) from 1649 to 1660 under Oliver
Cromwell and his son Richard |
|
The Commonwealth |
| Redrew the map of Europe following the defeat of Napoleon, 1814–5 |
|
Congress of Vienna |
| The rules that govern whether a country is allowed to join the EU (agreed in 1993 – just before
the EEC became the EU under the Maastricht Agreement) |
|
Copenhagen criteria |
| Socio–political movement in China, 1966–76, initiated by Mao Zedong with the aim of re–imposing
Maoist thought as the dominant ideology |
|
Cultural Revolution |
| Disastrous attempt by Scotland to set up a colony on the Panama isthmus, in the late 17th century
(1698–1700) |
|
Darién Scheme darien |
| Popular name(s) for the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzogovina (1995): after the nearest
city to Wright–Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, at which negotiations took place |
|
Dayton Accord(s) or Dayton Agreement |
| Declaration of Scottish independence, sent by letter to Pope John XXII 1320 |
|
Declaration of Arbroath |
| Event that prompted the Thirty Years War: a Protestant assembly found two Roman Catholic governors
guilty of denying them freedom of religion, and threw them out of a window |
|
Defenestration of Prague (Second) |
| 1904: diplomatic crisis caused when the Russian Baltic Fleet fired on English fishing boats,
mistaking them for Japanese gunboats (said to be started by a captain who was drunk) |
|
Dogger Bank Incident |
| 1685: Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, causing many protestants to leave France |
|
Edict of Fontainebleau |
| 1598: Henry VI of France granted freedom of worship to protestants |
|
Edict of Nantes |
| Agreement reached 1904 between France and the UK, ending centuries of intermittent conflict |
|
Entente Cordiale |
| Held in 1951 to celebrate the centenary of the Great Exhibition, to give the British people a feeling of successful
recovery from the devastation of World War Two, and to promote British science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts |
|
Festival of Britain |
| The 2001 UK general election was delayed by one month due to |
|
Foot & Mouth disease |
| 3–12 May 1926: called by the TUC in support of 800,000 locked–out coal miners, with the
slogan: "Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day"; started when Princess Elizabeth was 12 days old |
|
General Strike |
| Four treaties (1864, 1906, 1929 and 1949) that established international standards for the humanitarian
conduct of war |
|
Geneva Convention |
| Delivered by US President Abraham Lincoln on 19 November 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers'
National Cemetery in Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the battle that was fought at the same place. Begins with the words,
"Four score and seven years ago" and ends with an assertion of "government of the people, by the people, for the people" |
|
Gettysburg Address |
| Killing of 38 members of the Scottish Clan MacDonald, early in the morning of 13 February 1692,
by soldiers of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot, under the command of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon
|
|
Glencoe Massacre |
| Replacement of James II by William and Mary, 1688–9 |
|
Glorious Revolution |
| Elizabeth I's 'farewell' speech to her last parliament (30 November 1601) |
|
Golden Speech |
| Popular name for the 1998 agreement that marked a major step forward in the Northern Ireland peace
process – also known as the Belfast Agreement – named after the day of the year on which it was signed (30 April) |
|
Good Friday Agreement |
| Anti–Catholic riots in London, 1780 – the most destructive protest in the city's history |
|
Gordon Riots |
| 18th–century religious revival in the American colonies, inspired by the preaching of George Whitfield |
|
The Great Awakening |
| Held at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, in 1851, to celebrate the achievements of the civilised world and to
promote British industry; Prince Albert was the founding President of the Royal Commission that was set up to administer it; one of its most
popular exhibits was the Koh–i–Noor diamond, lent by Queen Victoria |
|
Great Exhibition |
| Visitors paid a penny to use the first public toilets and get a shoe shine (giving rise to the well–known
phrase or saying ... ) |
| The Festival of Britain, in 1951, celebrated its cententary |
| Term used to describe the political and diplomatic confrontation that existed for most of the nineteenth century
between Britain and Russia, over Afghanistan and neighbouring territories in Central and Southern Asia |
|
The Great Game |
| 1958–61: the Chinese Communist Party's unsuccessful economic and social campaign, led by
Mao Zedong, aiming for a rapid transformation from an agrarian economy into a communist society through rapid industrialisation and
collectivisation |
|
Great Leap Forward |
| Migration of Dutch–speaking settlers (Boers) from Cape Colony into the interior of modern South Africa,
from 1836 to around 1846, to avoid British colonial administration |
|
Great Trek |
| Le Grand Dérangement (1755–63): expulsion of the French–speaking population from what
would become the Maritime Provinces of Canada, known to them as Acadie; known in English as the |
|
Great Upheaval |
| Film processing laboratories in north London, where a dispute over union recognition became a cause celebre
in the late 1970s |
|
Grunwick |
| Name commonly given to the brutal slaughter and pillaging of Northumbria by the army of William the Conqueror
in the winter of 1069–70, when 100,000 people are believed to have starved to death |
|
The Harrying of the North |
| Forced evictions of Scottish highlanders in the 18th and 19th centuries, to make way for more profitable use of
the land |
|
Highland Clearances |
| First German Reich |
|
Holy Roman Empire |
| Chinese Communist Party's brief initiative of summer 1956 to encourage free thought – swiftly followed
by a brutal crack–down |
|
Hundred Flowers Campaign |
| Campaign that put Colt Ventilation & Heating Ltd., headquartered in Surbiton, Surrey (Greater London), in the
headlines in 1968 |
|
I'm Backing Britain |
| White paper prepared by Barbara Castle as Employment Secretary, on behalf of the Wilson government
(1969), aimed at curbing the power of the unions – opposed by Callaghan, among others, and never enacted |
|
In Place of Strife |
| Term coined by F. Scott FitzGerald to describe 1920s America, epitomised in his works |
|
Jazz Age |
| Period of liberal rule in France under Louis–Philippe (1830–48) |
|
July Monarchy |
| Hurricane that devastated New Orleans in 2005 |
|
Katrina |
| US–backed regime that took power in Cambodia in 1970 following the overthrow of Prince Sihanouk
in a military coup; itself overthrown by communists five years later |
|
Khmer Republic |
| Popular name (originally given to the Cambodian Communist Party itself) for the Communist regime, led
by Saloth Sar (Pol Pot), that overthrew the Khmer Republic in Cambodia in 1975 and held power until 1979, when it was overthrown by a
Vietnamese invasion, after which its leaders fled to Thailand |
|
Khmer Rouge |
| Anti–Jewish riots throughout Germany, on the night of 9–10 November 1938; name derives
from the number of shop windows that were broken; also known in English as the Night of the Broken Glass |
|
Kristallnacht |
| Named after the Japanese city that hosted a major UN conference on climate change, 1997 (came into
force in 2005) |
|
Kyoto Protocol |
| Three 1929 agreements between the Italian government and the Roman Catholic Church to establish the
Vatican City |
|
Lateran Treaties |
| Statement by the so–called Gang of Four, that led to the formation of the SDP (January 1981)
– after the location of David Owen's London house |
|
Limehouse Declaration |
| 1925 series of multinational agreements seeking to secure territorial agreements resulting from
World War I, and to normalise relations between Germany and its neighbours. Named after the Swiss town at the tip of Lake Maggiore, where
they were negotiated |
|
Locarno Treaties |
| 6,000 mile march across China, 1934–5, led by Mao Zedong (only 8,000 out of 100,000 survived) |
|
Long March |
| 1803: Napoleon sells 0.83 million square miles of the American mid–west, from New Orleans to
the Canadian border – about 23% of the current area of the USA – to the USA for 60 million francs ($11.25 million); including
interest and cancellation of debts, the USA eventually paid a total of $23.2m |
|
Louisiana Purchase |
| Four original copies exist: two are in the British Library, one in Lincoln Cathedral, one in
Salisbury Cathedral; clause 40 states "To no man will we sell, or deny, or delay, right or justice" |
|
Magna Carta |
| US plan for the reconstruction of the Allied nations of Europe and repelling Communism after
World War II – announced 1947 (officially the European Recovery Program) |
|
Marshall Plan |
| Popular name for the Treaty of Non–Aggression between the USSR and Germany – signed in
Moscow on 24 August 1939 – from the names of the respective foreign ministers |
|
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact |
| The largest contiguous land empire in history: founded in 1206 under Genghis Khan; became fragmented in the
mid–to–late 13th century, and all four fragments had collapsed by 1368 |
|
Mongol Empire |
| Warning issued in 1823 to European powers, by the 5th US President, that the USA would see further colonial
ambitions of European states in America as a security threat |
|
Monroe Doctrine |
| Californian city: venue of a pop festival in June 1967, regarded as the precursor to Woodstock; featured Hendrix,
Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, etc., etc.; film released 1968 |
|
Monterey |
| International treaty trhat came into force in 1989, designed to phase out substances believed to be causing the
depletion of the Earth's ozone layer |
|
Montreal Protocol |
| Agreement signed in September 1938 between the heads of government of the major European powers, including
Chamberlain and Hitler |
|
Munich Agreement |
| Treaty of 1648 by which Spain recognised the independence of the Netherlands, ending the Eighty Years' War |
|
Münster (Peace or Treaty of) Munster |
| Took place in the early hours of 28 April 1789, about 30 nautical miles off the volcanic island of
Tofua (TOFF-oo-uh?) in the South Pacific |
|
Mutiny of the Bounty |
| 1962 agreement, named after the city where negotiations took place, by which the USA agreed to supply
Polaris missiles to the UK, and in return gained a submarine base at Holy Loch in the Firth of Clyde; cited by Charles de Gaulle as one of
the main reasons for his veto of Britain's application for admission to the EEC three weeks later (Jan 1963) |
|
Nassau Agreement |
| F. D. Roosevelt's policies for domestic economic and social reform, to counter the Great Depression,
1933–40 |
|
New Deal |
| 30 June – 2 July 1934: Hitler's purge of the Nazi Sturmableitung – the Brownshirts
– including its leader Ernst Röhm |
|
Night of the Long Knives |
| Popular name for the 1997 Anti–Personnel Mine Ban Convention, after the city where it was signed
in 1997 |
|
Ottawa Treaty |
| St. Peter's Fields, Manchester, 16 August 1819: between 11 and 18 killed (probably 11 died on the field, and
up to 7 later or of injuries), and 400–700 injured, when cavalry was sent into a crowd; Free Trade Hall later built on the site |
|
Peterloo Massacre |
| Popular rising in the North of England against the break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries;
started with the so–called Lincolnshire Rising in 1536, although the main rising started around York twelve days later. Robert Aske, a
London barrister, was chosen as its leader |
|
Pilgrimage of Grace |
| North Sea oilrig that exploded in 1988 with the loss of 167 lives |
|
Piper Alpha |
| Periodic mob attacks on Jews in Russia, beginning 1881 |
|
Pogroms |
| Held every 20 years since 1542 in an English county town – now 1992, 1912 etc. |
|
Preston Guild |
| Forcible removal of Presbyterian and Royalist MPs from the House of Commons, 1648 (leaving the Rump,
which brought Charles I to trial) |
|
Pride's Purge |
| The period in US history (1920–33) when the production and sale of alcoholic beverages was
constitutionally banned |
|
Prohibition |
| Protests against road tolls in Wales, 1839–42 – named after the biblical character –
ended after the Turnpike Acts of 1841 |
|
Rebecca Riots |
| After the Civil War in the USA (especially the southern states) |
|
Reconstruction |
| 1811–20, in Britain (the future George IV ruled while his father was deemed unfit to rule due
to illness) |
|
Regency |
| Resurgence of Western art and science, centred in Italy, c 1500 AD |
|
(High) Renaissance |
| Reinstatement of the British monarchy after the Interregnum (and the period immediately following it) |
|
Restoration |
| Political and social movement that led to the unification of Italy in the late 19th century (Italian
for "resurgence") |
|
Risorgimento |
| 1985: established freedom of movement between most EU countries (and some that are not members of the EU) |
|
Schengen Agreement |
| France under Napoleon III, 1852–70, ended by the February Revolution |
|
Second Empire |
| Secret agreement of October 1956 between Britain, France and Israel, following Nasser's
nationalisation of the Suez Canal |
|
Sèvres Protocol |
| Ancient system of farm tenancy, widespread in the Southern states of the USA after the Civil War
(the landowner allows the tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on it) |
|
Sharecropping |
| 1720 financial crisis, revealing corruption among ministers of the British Government: named after
a company that was granted exclusive rights to trade with South America, by a treaty with Spain, and in return took on Britain's national
debt; in the resulting speculation its shares rose from £100 at the start of 1720 to over £1,000 in August, but they crashed
back below £150 within a month |
|
South Sea Bubble |
| Pandemic that killed approximately one per cent of the world's population in 1918 |
|
Spanish flu (influenza) |
| Bilateral treaty between the USA and the Soviet Union, on the reduction and limitation of strategic
offensive arms. (START I was signed in 1991, came into force 1994, and was replaced by New START – signed in 2010 in Prague, came into
force 2011; expected to last until at least 2021) |
|
START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) |
| Saint's day (24 August) that gave its name to a massacre of French Protestants (Huguenots) that took place
in 1572 – estimates of the number killed vary from 5,000 to 30,000 |
|
St. Bartholomew's Day |
| The Exposition Universale (1889), the event for which the Eiffel Tower was built, celebrated
the centenary of the |
|
Storming of the Bastille |
| 1935 agreement between Britain, France and Italy, to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties, protect Austrian
independence, and resist any future attempt by Germany to change the Treaty of Versailles. Named after the town on the banks of Lake Maggiore
where it was signed |
|
Stresa Front |
| Document issued in 1834 by Sir Robert Peel, on being asked to form a government following the removal of Lord
Melbourne as Prime Minister: named after his constituency, which was in turn named after the market town in South Staffordshire on which
it was centred; widely regarded as having laid down the principles upon which the modern Conservative Party is based
|
|
Tamworth Manifesto |
| Period from c1598 to 1612 in Russia, when the tsardom was in dispute following the (disputed) murder
of Dmitry, youngest son of Ivan the Terrible |
|
Time of Troubles |
| Forced relocations of Native Americans, in the 1830s, from their ancestral homelands in the
south–eastern USA to an area west of the Mississippi that had been designated as Indian Territory |
|
Trail of Tears |
| Alliance formed 1907 between Britain, France and Russia |
|
Triple Entente |
| Dutch city; gave its name to the treaty of 1713 that ended the War of the Spanish Succession (Philip of Anjou,
grandson of Louis XIV, recognised as Philip V of Spain – but renounced his claim to the French throne); Spain ceded the Spanish
Netherlands, Naples, Sardinia and the Duchy of Milan to the Holy Roman Emperor, Gibraltar and Minorca to Britain, and (effectively) Brazil
to Portugal; France ceded much of its territory in Canada to Britain |
|
Utrecht (Peace or Treaty of) |
| Popular name for the US National Prohibition Act of 1919, which enforced the 18th amendment to the
constitution dealing with prohibition of alcohol |
|
Volstead Act |
| Place in the far north of New Zealand: gave its name (meaning "weeping waters" in the Maori language)
to the treaty signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and local Maori chiefs
|
|
Waitangi |
| Reached its climax in the five or six days bounded by 'Black Thursday' and 'Black Tuesday' |
|
Wall Street Crash (October 1929) |
| Organisation of European Communist states, 1955–91: created as a "counterweight" to
NATO, in reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO, but considered to have been motivated by Soviet desires to maintain control
over military forces in Central and Eastern Europe; officially known as the Treaty of Friendship, Co–operation, and Mutual Assistance |
|
Warsaw Pact |
| German republic that preceded Hitler's "Third Reich" |
|
Weimar |
| German anti–Nazi movement of 1942–3, started at Munich University |
|
White Rose |
| England was allied to Portugal in 1386 by the Treaty of |
|
Windsor |
| Name, borrowed from Shakespeare (reputedly by Larry Lamb, Editor of The Sun) and used to refer to the
period between November 1978 and February 1979 in the UK, characterised by widespread strikes by trade unions in the private, and later
public, sector |
|
Winter of Discontent |
| 1889 event for which the Eiffel Tower was built |
|
World Fair (Paris Exposition) |
| 1521: Martin Luther defended his 95 Theses (against the Papal Legates) at the Diet of, and was declared
a heretic by the Edict of |
|
Worms |
| Treaty of 1529 that defined the areas of Castilian (Spanish) and Portuguese influence in Asia –
named after the Spanish city where it was signed |
|
Zaragoza (Treaty of) |
