History glossary
Subordinate
lower in rank, power, or authority than someone or something else.
- Category
- Political relationship
What it means
Subordinate describes a person, community, office, or ruler that is placed below another in a hierarchy. In early states, subordinate lords or communities might keep some local authority while owing loyalty, tribute, labour, or military service to a more powerful centre.
Related terms
Stories using this term
Nazi Germany
From Weimar collapse to WWII, Nazi Germany imposed totalitarian rule, expansion, and genocide.
The American Revolution and Early Republic
From colonial tensions to independence, this traces the birth and early struggles of the United States of America.
The Anglo-Saxons
The Anglo-Saxons were the peoples and kingdoms that shaped Anglo-Saxon England after the end of Roman rule in Britain. From migration and settlement in Anglo-Saxon Britain to Christian conversion, Viking attacks, Alfred the Great, and the road to 1066, Anglo-Saxon history explains how early medieval England took form. Their language, laws, kingdoms, monasteries, and political traditions left a lasting mark on English identity before the Norman Conquest transformed the realm.
The Aztec Empire
From migrants to empire, the Aztecs built a powerful civilisation before collapsing after Spanish conquest.
The English Reformation
Henry VIII’s break with Rome reshaped religion, politics, and identity through decades of upheaval.
Kievan Rus
The founding of the Rus’ state in the north.
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began in Britain and spread globally, transforming economies, societies and everyday life through machines, factories and new energy sources.
The Russian Revolution
From the 1905 crisis to the creation of the USSR, the Russian Revolution transformed imperial collapse into a new one-party socialist state.
