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Causation and consequence: why things happen

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Most GCSE History questions ask you to explain why something happened or what it led to. That means thinking about causes and consequences, not just telling the story.

Kinds of cause

Long-term causes build up over years. Short-term causes happen just before the event. A trigger is the spark that sets it off.
Causes can be sorted into factors, for example:
Political: governments, laws, wars between states.
Economic: money, trade, jobs, taxes.
Social: how people live, attitudes in society.
Religious: beliefs and the Church.
Individuals: the actions of key people.
Science and technology: new inventions and discoveries.

Example: the First World War

Long-term causes: rival alliances (the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente), militarism such as the Anglo-German naval race, and competition for empire.
Trigger: the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
The alliances turned a crisis in the Balkans into a war between the great powers within weeks.
Good answers show how causes link: the alliance system meant the trigger dragged in more countries.

Consequences

A consequence is a result. Some are immediate, some are long-term. Some are intended (what people wanted) and some are unintended.
Use linking phrases to show the chain: 'This led to...', 'As a result...', 'This meant that...', 'Because of this...'
An explained cause says how it made the event happen, not just that it happened.
Worked example

Turn this description into an explanation: 'There was a naval race between Britain and Germany.'

  1. State the cause: the Anglo-German naval race.
  2. Add detail: both built powerful new battleships called dreadnoughts.
  3. Explain the link: this made Britain see Germany as a threat, which pushed Britain closer to France and Russia.

Answer: The naval race increased rivalry and fear between Britain and Germany, which drew Britain closer to France and Russia and made a wider war more likely.

Key idea

Causes can be long-term, short-term or a trigger, and grouped into factors (political, economic, social, religious, individuals, science and technology). Consequences can be immediate or long-term, intended or unintended. Link with 'This led to...'.

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