Why do events happen, and what are their impacts? Cause and Consequence Why do events happen, and what are their impacts?

Cause and Consequence - Change is driven by multiple causes, and results in multiple consequences- complex web of interrelated short-term and long-term causes and consequences - Causes that lead to an event vary in their influence, with some being more SIGNIFICANT than others - Events result from two types of factors: (1) historical actors- people who take action and (2) social/political/economic and cultural conditions within which the actors operate - The effects of actors actions have unforeseen, unpredictable and unintended consequences

Cause and Consequence - Events result from two types of factors: (1) historical actors- people who take action and (2) social/political/economic and cultural conditions within which the actors operate - The effects of actors actions have unforeseen, unpredictable and unintended consequences

Agency vs. Prevailing Conditions - Agency (the power to act)- is essential in understanding cause and consequence - Are we bound in our ability to act by the "iron cage" of the conditions we find ourselves? Chicken or the egg scenario for sure - Just as their are short term and long term causes, we must also consider the same for consequences - a major issue of adolescents learning history is that there is a tendency to focus on the short range, immediate consequences of an event….for example…

Your most recent math mark Causes? Consequences?

Counterfactuals in History - Easy way to show that history is not predetermined or inevitable- What If? - Apply the conditions of the time to the agency of the historical actors- was there any other possible action? - What would the consequences of the other possible actions(s) have been? - What if Gavrilo Princeps had not assassinated the archduke?