World History teaching resources for the high school classroom: lesson plans, worksheets, quizzes and simulation games for KS3, IGCSE, IB and A-Level teachers.

D. The Approach of Historians to the Issue of Causation

You will now learn a bit more about how historians have approached the thorny issue of causation.

Read through this table as a class and tackle the Discussion Points as you go along:

	Key Factor	Timescale	Big Question	Concept of Progress	Details
Whig Historians	Great Men	Short Term Factors	Where have we come from?	Peaceful, evolutionary progress	▪ Macauley had two key ideas: 1. The driving force in history was individuals acting with free will [more] 2. History was a story of progress leading up to high point of the present age: the past was judged on present day values [more] Discussion Point
Marxist Historians	Economics	Mid-Term	Where are we going?	Violent, revolutionary progress	▪ Karl Marx said that economic forces dictated the overall strategy of history; individuals just provided the tactics [more] Discussion Point
Annales Historians	Geography	Long-Term	Are we going anywhere?	Question whole notion of progress	▪ Fernand Braudel argues that individuals and even societies are merely short-term ripples on mid-term waves subject to long-term tides [more] Discussion Point

1. Try to summarise the essential differences between the three main historiographical schools listed here in no more than 100 words.

2. How would MacAuley, Marx and Braudel each have explained the death of Billy Elliot described earlier?

3. Which of these historiographical schools do you belong most clearly to?