A People’s History of the World

by Chris Harman

  Girondins: Less revolutionary wing of Jacobin club in French Revolution 1791–92, in bitter opposition to Robespierre.

  Goths (also Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks): Germanic peoples who conquered various parts of former Roman Empire in west in fifth century AD and after.

  Great Depression: Period of economic crises in late 1870s and 1880s. The term is also sometimes used to refer to 1930s.

  Great Inca: Term for Inca emperor.

  Grisettes: Colloquial expression for young French working-class women in nineteenth century.

  Guilds: Organisations of artisans and craftspeople designed to protect interests by regulating prices and quality of goods. Often sponsored by monarchy or city state.

  Guptas: Emperors ruling part of India in early centuries AD.

  Habeas corpus: Legal rule preventing imprisonment without trial.

  Hadiths: Collection of sayings ascribed to prophet Mohammed.

  Han: Dynasty that ruled China from 206 BC to AD 220. Also term sometimes used to refer to ethnic Chinese as opposed to other inhabitants of the country.

  Hellenes: Greeks.

  Helots: Serfs working land in ancient Sparta.

  Hidalgo: Spanish word for ‘gentleman’.

  Holy Communion: Christian rite in which priest drinks wine and feeds bread to congregation, held by Catholics and Lutherans (but not Calvinists) to involve consumption of ‘blood and body of Christ’. Cause of enormous disputes in Reformation.

  Home Rule: Scheme for Britain to devolve certain powers to the parliament of a united Ireland.

  Horticulture: Simplest form of agriculture, involving use of light tools like digging stick and hoe.

  Huguenots: French Protestants who followed ideas of Calvin, driven into exile in seventeenth century.

  Huns: People from central Asia who invaded Europe and northern India from late fourth century onwards. Eventually some settled in modern Hungary.

  Hussites: Religious rebels in early fifteenth-century Bohemia, precursors of Protestant Reformation of seventeenth century.

  Hyksos: People who attacked Egypt around 1700 to 1600 BC, usually considered to be from Palestine.

  Independent Labour Party: Precursor of Labour Party in 1890s Britain, existed as part of Labour Party from 1906 until early 1930s.

  Independent Social Democrats (Independents): Left parliamentary socialist split from German social democracy during the First World War. Half joined Communists in 1920, other half went back to main social democratic party.

  Independents: Name given to ‘Win The War’ group around Cromwell in English Civil War. See also Independent Social Democrats.

  Indo-European: Family of languages including Greek, Latin, German, Russian, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Kurdish.

  Inquisition: Institution of Catholic church in late medieval and early modern period for stamping out heresy.

  Izvestia: Paper started by workers’ soviets in 1917 Russia. From 1920s to late 1980s, mouthpiece of Russian government.

  Jacobins: Members of most important revolutionary club in Paris after 1789–94. At first included ‘moderates’ like Girondins as well as more revolutionary elements. Later term was applied to most determined section, led by Robespierre. Used outside France to refer to all supporters of the revolution.

  Jesuits (Society of Jesus): Religious order founded in mid-sixteenth century to combat Reformation. Seen as centre of religious reaction by Protestants and free thinkers alike until twentieth century. Briefly became vehicle for exponents of left-wing ‘liberation theology’ after 1960s until purged by pope.

  Journée: Term used to describe mobilisation of Parisian population for revolt during French Revolution.

  Journeymen: Skilled workers employed in workshops of late medieval and early modern Europe – they would often expect to become self-employed master craftsmen one day.

  Junkers : Landed nobility of eastern regions of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Germany.

  Kadets: Constitutional Democrat Party in pre-revolutionary Russia, opposed to tsarist absolutism but also to workers’ movement.

  Kaiser: German emperor.

  Kulak: Russian term for capitalist farmer or rich peasant.

  Kuomintang: Chinese nationalist party, government of China 1927–49, government of Taiwan since.

  Kush: Name for ancient Nubian civilisation.

  Latifundia: Term for large landed estates in both ancient Rome and modern Latin America.

  Left Hegelians: Group of liberal-democratic intellectuals in 1840s Germany who turned ideas of conservative philosopher Hegel against Prussian monarchy.

  Lineage: Form of social organisation which links people on basis of blood relationships – also called ‘clan’ or ‘gens’.

  Luddites: Weavers and stocking-makers who destroyed new machinery installed by capitalists in great wave of revolt in 1811–16–often used as derogatory term meaning opponents of technical progress.

  Madrasas: Islamic religious schools.

  Mamlukes: Soldiers of Turkish origin in Middle East empires of Middle Ages. Formerly slaves, they seized power in Egypt in twelfth century and ruled it until Ottoman conquest in 1517.

  Manichaeism: Religion founded by Mani in third century AD which combined Christian, Buddhist and Zoroastrian notions.

  Materialism: View which denies that spirit or thought can exist independently of material existence.

  Maurya: Empire that united most of present-day India in fourth century BC.

  Mayas: Inhabitants of southern Mexico and Guatemala who established civilisation from about AD 700.

  Mechanics: Old word for artisans or craftsmen.

  Meiji Revolution: Change which ended Japanese feudalism in 1860s.

  Mensheviks: Wing of socialist movement in Russia after 1903 that tended to look to collaboration with the bourgeoisie.

  Middle Kingdom: Egypt from about 2000 to 1780 BC.

  Middling people: Embryonic middle class of small farmers and tradesmen at time of English Civil War.

  Ming: Dynasty which ruled China from AD 1368 to 1644.

  Moguls: Dynasty that ruled most of India from 1526 to early part of eighteenth century.

  Mongols: People from east and central Asia who moved right across Eurasia, invading kingdoms and empires in Middle East, eastern Europe, Iran, India and China from twelfth to fourteenth centuries.

  Monophysites: Christians in Middle East who disagreed over interpretation of trinity with both Catholics and Arians.

  Mycenae: Civilisation on southern mainland of Greece about 1500 BC.

  Narodniki: Literally ‘populists’. Russian revolutionaries prior to 1917 who looked towards peasants rather than workers.

  National Guards: Volunteer forces recruited from middle class in France in early 1790s and in nineteenth-century Europe, transformed into working-class force during siege of Paris in 1870–71.

  National Liberals: Big business-backed section of German former liberals who backed imperialist regime after 1871. Became People’s Party after revolution of 1918.

  Neolithic: Literally ‘New Stone Age’, involves use of sophisticated stone and wooden tools, and pottery.

  Neolithic revolution: Introduction of new way of life based on these tools, involving living in large villages and simple agriculture.

  NEP (New Economic Policy): Market mechanisms in Russia between 1921 and 1928.

  Nestorian: Version of Christianity banned by Roman and Byzantium churches. Influential in medieval central Asia and China.

  New Kingdom: Egypt from 1550 to 1075 BC.

  New Model Army: Reorganised parliamentary forces that defeated royalists in English Civil War and then carried through English Revolution of 1649.

  Noblesse d’épée: Traditional French nobility.

  Noblesse de robe: Section of French nobility whose wealth came from hereditary control of parts of legal system – originally recruited by monarchs from well-to-do middle class.

  Norsemen: People from Scandinavia who raided west
ern and Mediterranean Europe in ninth and tenth centuries AD, before settling in England, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Russia, Normandy and Sicily. Also known as ‘Vikings’.

  Old Kingdom: First civilisation in Egypt from 3000 to about 2100 BC.

  Oligarchy: Ancient Greek term meaning ‘rule by a few’.

  Olmecs: First civilisation to arise in Mexico and Guatemala, in last millennium BC.

  Orange: Originally family name of Dutch princes, used since eighteenth century to describe Protestant haters of Catholics and supporters of British rule in Ireland.

  Ottomans: Leaders of a Turkic people who conquered Asia Minor from both Islamic empires and Byzantium in late medieval period, before expanding right across north Africa, Middle East and Balkans.

  Parlements: Term used in pre-revolutionary France for certain important courts.

  Passive citizens: Those without vote under property franchise in France 1790–92.

  Pastoralists: Societies based on herding of cattle, sheep, camels or llamas.

  Patriarchy: Term for society structured around households under the domination of the most senior males, who tell other males, women and servants what to do. Misused by many feminists to apply to all societies with women’s oppression.

  Patricians: Hereditary ruling elite in early period of Roman republic.

  Petty bourgeoisie (or petite bourgeoisie): Literally ‘little bourgeoisie’. Referred originally to small shopkeepers, tradespeople, small capitalist farmers and so on. Extended to include professions and middle management grades among white-collar employees.

  Phonograph: Precursor of gramophone and record player.

  Platonism: View which holds material world is simply imperfect reflection of ideal concepts.

  Plebeians: Ordinary citizens of early Roman Republic, owning small amounts of land. Used in later times to describe poorer section of urban population, or simply those of lower-class upbringing.

  Popular Front: Russian Stalinist-inspired attempt to create coalitions of workers’ parties and ‘progressive bourgeoisie’ in 1930s and after.

  Presbyterians: Name given to Scottish Calvinist Protestants, also applied to those on parliamentary side in English Civil War who wanted to do deal with royalists.

  Proletarians: Originally inhabitants of ancient Rome who owned no property at all. In modern times, term used by Marx to describe wage workers.

  Provisional government: Non-elected government running Russia between February and October 1917.

  Putting-out: System by which merchants would provide self-employed craftspeople with raw materials and tools in return for control over their produce, enabling merchants to make profits from production. Step on way to full-blown industrial capitalism.

  Pythagoreanism: Named after early mathematician of ancient Greece, sees numbers and mathematical formulae as having magical qualities.

  Quakers: Originally revolutionary sect at time of English Revolution, later became pacifist Christians. A few became very rich and dominated American colony of Pennsylvania.

  Radical Party: Main party of French middle class in pre–Second World War France.

  Restoration: Term used in Britain in 1660 and in Europe in 1814–15 to describe restoration of monarchy after revolutionary period.

  SA: German Nazi Stormtrooper paramilitary organisation.

  Sahib: Indian word meaning ‘sir’, used to describe British colonists.

  Samurai: Privileged knightly layer in Japan before 1860s.

  Sans-culottes: Poorer section of French population at time of French Revolution, mainly artisans and families, but some workers.

  Second serfdom: Reimposition of serfdom in eastern Europe from sixteenth century onwards, used to provide grain which nobles would sell in west European markets.

  Sections: Term used to describe regular mass meetings of people in each part of Paris during French Revolution.

  Semitic: Name for a family of languages originating in the Middle East, including Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic. Often applied to peoples originating in the region, especially Jews. Hence also ‘anti-Semitic’.

  Serfs: Peasants who are half free, working some of the land on their own behalf but compelled to provide either unpaid labour, goods-in-kind or money payments to a lord whose land they are not allowed to leave.

  Seven Years War: War in mid-1750s between France and Britain over domination of North America and Atlantic trade. Resulted in Britain getting control of Canada and first colonisation of India.

  Shang: Earliest dynasty to rule an empire in China, around 1600 BC.

  Shi’ites: Followers of main minority version of Islam, the majority in Iran, southern Iraq and parts of Lebanon today.

  Sikhism: North Indian religion, founded in sixteenth century, in opposition to caste system and in effort to unify Hinduism and Islam.

  Social Revolutionary Party: Russian party in first quarter of century that claimed to base itself on peasants, in practice led by lawyers.

  Society of Jesus: See Jesuits.

  Soviet: Literally Russian for ‘council’. Used in 1905 and 1917 to refer to workers’ and soldiers’ councils. Later used as short-cut expression for regime in Russia.

  Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics): Name adopted by republics of former Russian Empire in 1924 and then for Stalinist empire, dissolved in 1991.

  Spartakusbund: Literally Spartacus League, German revolutionary group during First World War.

  SPD: Social Democratic Party of Germany.

  SRs: Members of Social Revolutionary Party in Russia.

  SS: Originally Hitler’s personal guard, developed into military core of Nazi regime, responsible for death camps.

  Stalinism: Support for Stalin’s doctrines and methods. More generally, term for state capitalist form of organisation existing in Russia and other Eastern bloc states until 1989–91.

  Sudras: Indian caste associated with toiling on the land. In ancient four-caste system below priests, warriors and cultivators, but above ‘out-castes’.

  Sung: Dynasty ruling all of China from AD 960 to 1127, and then southern China until 1279.

  Sunnis: Majority version of Islam.

  T’ai-p’ing: Rebellion in mid-nineteenth century China.

  T’ang: Dynasty ruling China from AD 618 to 907.

  Tainos: Columbus’s name for first indigenous people he came across in Caribbean.

  Taoism: Popular religious ideology in China through much of last 2,500 years. Associated with various magical beliefs, but also could encourage practical experimentation.

  Tariffs: Taxes applied to imports into a country.

  Tax farmers: Name given to rich contractors who bought right to collect taxes for state in ancient Rome, Abbasid Empire, Byzantium and pre-revolutionary France, among other places.

  Thermidor: Term used for counterrevolutionary coup against Jacobins in France in summer of 1794, based on revolution’s name for month in which it occurred, used since (eg in Russia) to describe beginnings of counter-revolution.

  Third period: Stalin’s policy of Communist parties treating socialist parties and trade unions as ‘social fascists’.

  Tithes: Sort of tax paid by peasants and artisans to church, which often passed into pockets of nobles.

  Tokugawa: Name of feudal family who dominated Japan from early seventeenth century until 1860s, often used to describe that whole period of Japanese feudalism.

  Tories: Originally sympathisers with Stuart monarchy in late seventeenth-century and early eighteenth century Britain, then one of two ruling class parties. Term used in America to describe royalists during War of Independence. Today means supporters of Conservative Party.

  Tribute: Sum of money levied from people of a conquered country.

  UGT: Socialist Party–influenced trade union organisation in Spain.

  Ultraquists: Religious denomination based on Hussite principles in Bohemia. Did not grant priest any special position in mass.

  Ultras: Term sometimes used to mean out
-and-out reactionaries, not to be confused with ‘ultra-left’.

  Umayyads: Dynasty that ruled Islamic Empire in Middle East from mid-seventh to mid-eighth centuries.

  Unionists: Supporters of British rule over Ireland.

  United Front: Tactic of defensive alliances between revolutionary and non-revolutionary workers’ parties and unions, formulated by Lenin and Trotsky in 1920–21.

  Urban revolution: Term for transformation of society that involved rise of classes, state, towns, and often metallurgy and literacy.

  USSR: See Soviet Union.

  Utopian Socialism: Set of doctrines in early nineteenth century that society needs to be organised along planned, cooperative lines, but that this can be done without revolution, by finding a benevolent ruler or by forming cooperative communities – associated in France with Comte de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier, in Britain with Robert Owen.

  Vedic: Ancestor of present-day Hindu religion, involved sacrifice of cattle.

  Vendée: Region in west of France where royalist revolt against revolution occurred in 1792.

  Viceroy: Governor of colonised country enjoying near-kingly (absolute) powers.

  Vietnam syndrome: US ruling-class fear after mid-1970s of getting involved in a war it could not win.

  Villeins: Medieval serfs.

  Whig: Forerunner of Liberal Party. Party originally associated with constitutional settlement in Britain in 1688. In early nineteenth century came to identify with industrial as opposed to landed section of ruling class. Also used of view of English history which sees everything as perfect evolution to liberal present.

  Workhouse: Building where unemployed and poor were compelled to work in return for food and shelter.

  Zamindars: Class of local notables who lived off share of land taxes in Mogul India, transformed into modern landowning class after British conquest.

  Zapotecs: People in southern Mexico who established Monte Alban civilisation after AD 500.

  Zoroastrianism: Religion of Iran before rise of Islam. Involves belief in eternal struggle between good and evil. Survives today among small Parsee communities in Indian subcontinent.

  Further reading

  This list is not meant to be at all comprehensive. It aims simply to suggest a few easily readable books which will enable the reader to go a little deeper into the issues raised in each section. Anyone who wants to do more than that should look at the endnotes to the main text. Books in print can be ordered from Bookmarks bookshop, 1 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE, telephone 0171 637 1848.