A proportionate explanation names more than one cause, supports each with evidence, shows how they connect, and says which mattered most and why. The single-cause shortcut is writing as if one factor explained everything.
This is the last lesson in causation and supported explanation. It uses the skills from triggers and conditions, evidence links and stated and speculative motives. The case below is invented.
How do you weigh causes?
You are making a historical interpretation, which is a reasoned judgement and not a fact. Three questions help you decide how much weight a cause deserves:
- Necessity: would the outcome have happened without it?
- Reach: did it affect many people, or a few?
- Duration: did it last, or was it brief?
A cause that scores high on several is usually a strong candidate for first place. Always state your reason, because the ranking is your argument.
Worked example (invented case)
The material is invented for this lesson.
Question: “The wage cut was the main reason for the March 1892 Harrowick strike.” How far do you agree?
Step 1, gather causes with evidence:
- Trigger: the posted wage cut of 2 March 1892.
- Condition A: pay falling from 14 to 11 shillings from 1885 to 1892 (an invented ledger).
- Condition B: the mill as the only large local employer (an invented town record).
- Stated motive: the owner’s claim of competition from cheaper cloth (his viewpoint).
Step 2, link them: the cut mattered because pay had already fallen (A), and workers could not leave because there was no other work (B).
Step 3, weigh: the wage cut was necessary for the strike to start on that day, but a strike might have come later over another grievance. Conditions A and B had been present for years and affected all workers, so without them the cut might have been accepted. On necessity, reach and duration, A and B together carry more weight.
Step 4, write the judgement: “The wage cut was the trigger, but the strike is more fully explained by seven years of falling pay combined with a lack of other work. The cut set the date, whereas the earlier conditions explain why workers acted. The owner’s account of cheaper cloth explains his decision, not the workers’ response.”
Step 5, qualify: “This judgement rests on the invented records, which may be incomplete.”
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken answer: “The wage cut caused the strike. It was the main reason because it happened just before.”
Being last in time does not make a cause the most important. The answer gives no evidence of weight.
The correction is to rank using necessity, reach or duration and to point to the evidence. A second mistake is the list with no ranking: “There were four causes: pay, work, cloth and machinery.” This is description, not explanation.
Check yourself
Invented case, Fennick bridge protest of 1810. Causes: the toll rise (trigger), twelve years of rising tolls, the bridge as the only route to market, and a poor harvest that year (a village record).
1. Which two causes are most closely linked, and how?
Show answer
Rising tolls and the bridge being the only route. Villagers could not avoid the cost, so rising tolls hurt more.
2. Give one reason to rank the long-term rising tolls above the harvest.
Show answer
Duration: tolls had risen for twelve years, while the poor harvest lasted one season. The tolls also affected anyone crossing, so their reach was wider.
3. Write a one-sentence proportionate judgement.
Show answer
“Although the latest toll rise set off the protest, twelve years of rising tolls on the only route to market explain the anger more fully, with the poor harvest adding to the pressure.”
Where this leads next
Try the integrated practice set, then use these skills in longer essays in writing and answer development.
Weighing causes is a skill that improves with feedback on your own paragraphs. Our teachers can give that in online one-to-one History tuition, using your actual topics.