History GCSE

Religious persecution

What Religious persecution means in History GCSE, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.

Definitions of Religious persecution

Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.

Check what you remember

Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Religious persecution in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.

Choose the reference wording

Reference: Pearson Edexcel

The push factor that drove the Mormons out of Nauvoo, Illinois, fleeing persecution in the East to find an isolated place to practise their faith freely.

Pearson Edexcel · Option P3: Key topic 1: The early settlement of the West, c1835–c1862 - 2 Migration and early settlement (study guide)

Attacks on Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam and ancestor worship because they were viewed as ideological threats to Maoism.

Pearson Edexcel · Option 32: Key topic 4: Life in Mao’s China, 1949–76 - 4 Cultural change (study guide)

The note links this to pogroms in the Russian Empire, which Eastern European Jews were escaping when they came to London's East End.

Pearson Edexcel · Option 13: c1700–c1900: Migration in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain - 3 Case studies ● Liverpool in the nineteenth century: its role in migration and the experiences of migrants, including Irish migrants. (study guide)

Topics that use Religious persecution

Option 13: c1700–c1900: Migration in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain - 3 Case studies ● Liverpool in the nineteenth century: its role in migration and the experiences of migrants, including Irish migrants. (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Option 32: Key topic 4: Life in Mao’s China, 1949–76 - 4 Cultural change (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Option P3: Key topic 1: The early settlement of the West, c1835–c1862 - 2 Migration and early settlement (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)

Related terms

Using Religious persecution in the exam

Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.

Practise History questions

Create a free account to answer exam-style questions on this topic and get feedback on your answers.

Start free

A week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge

All History GCSE terms