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Paper 2 Section B Question Types » Paper 2 Section B Question (b): Explain Two Causes

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: Assessment overview

What Paper 2 Section B question (b) asks and how it is marked
What counts as a cause, and how it differs from an effect
The paragraph method: point, evidence, explain how it led to the outcome
How to pick two different kinds of cause

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What question (b) asks

Section B of Paper 2 is about your breadth study in change. Part (b) is worth 8 marks: 4 for AO1 (knowledge) and 4 for AO2 (explanation). It always looks like this:

The question

Explain TWO causes of [an event, development, success, failure or opposition]. [8 marks]

There is no source and no choice. You use what you have learned in your own breadth study. The history in this lesson is only an example, so you do not need to study it.

Key terms:

Cause: a reason why something happened. It comes before the outcome and helps to make it happen.

Cause or effect?

A cause looks backwards from the outcome. An effect looks forwards. Paper 1 asks for effects, as in Paper 1 Question (b): Explain Two Effects. This question asks "Why did it happen?", not "What happened next?"

🔍 A cause

Happened before the outcome and helped bring it about. Test: "It happened because of ..."

❌ Not a cause

A result of the outcome, or a retelling of the outcome itself. Telling the story earns very little.

The method: point, evidence, explain

Write two paragraphs, one for each cause. Each paragraph has three steps.

Point. Name the cause in one sentence.
Evidence. Add precise facts: dates, names, figures. This earns the AO1 marks.
Explain. Show how the cause led to the outcome. This earns the AO2 marks.

The third step is what lifts you to the top level. Do not just list facts. Link them to the outcome with words like "because", "this meant that" and "as a result".

We describe the levels in plain words. A simple comment or general knowledge earns the lowest marks. Causes explained with specific facts reach the middle. Showing clearly how each cause led to the outcome, with accurate and relevant detail, reaches the top.

Why two causes?

The question says "TWO". If you explain only one cause, you cannot score more than half marks (4 out of 8). Give each cause about the same effort: roughly 70 to 100 words each and about 12 minutes in all. That timing is our guide, not an official rule.

Picking two different kinds of cause

Two causes must be clearly different, not one idea said twice. A quick way is to choose causes of different kinds:

Political, economic, social, military or religious: for example, a law (political) and a shortage of money (economic).
Long-term and short-term: a slow build-up, and a trigger that set it off.
People's decisions and events beyond their control: a leader's choice, and something like a harvest or a disease.

Jot down three possible causes, then choose the two you know the most facts about.

Worked example: the League of Nations and Abyssinia

This is just an example. Here is a short fact file so that anyone can follow the answer. In the exam you get no fact file.

Fact file: the League of Nations and Abyssinia, 1935-36

The League of Nations was meant to keep peace by collective security: members acting together against an aggressor.
Italy invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) on 3 October 1935 and took the capital, Addis Ababa, in May 1936.
The League condemned Italy and began sanctions in November 1935, banning arms, loans and some goods.
Oil, which Italy's army needed, was not banned.
The Suez Canal, Italy's quickest route to East Africa, stayed open. Britain and France controlled it.
Britain and France wanted Italy's leader, Mussolini, as an ally against Hitler's Germany.
In December 1935 the Hoare-Laval Pact, a secret plan to give Italy most of Abyssinia, was leaked and caused an outcry. Sanctions ended in July 1936.

Question

Explain TWO causes of the League of Nations' failure to stop Italy's conquest of Abyssinia. [8 marks]

Strong answer

One cause was that the sanctions were too weak. The League began sanctions in November 1935, but they did not ban oil, which Italy's army needed, and the Suez Canal stayed open to Italian ships. As a result, Italy could keep supplying its soldiers in Africa, so the sanctions did not slow the invasion and Addis Ababa fell in May 1936.

Another cause was that Britain and France put their own interests first. They wanted Mussolini as an ally against Hitler's Germany, so they did not want to push Italy too hard. This led them to draw up the Hoare-Laval Pact in December 1935, a plan to give Italy most of Abyssinia. Because the League depended on its strongest members acting together, their lack of will meant that it could not stop the aggressor.

Weaker answer

The League was weak and did not do much. Italy was strong and it won the war.

What lifts it: the weaker answer makes vague comments and gives no evidence or explanation. The strong answer names two different causes (one about sanctions, one about the aims of Britain and France), gives precise evidence for each, and shows how each cause led to the failure.

Common mistakes

Writing only one cause. The mark is capped at half. Always write two paragraphs.
Two causes that are really the same. "Weak sanctions" and "the League did not act strongly" are one cause. Choose different kinds.
Describing what happened. A story of the event is not a cause. Start each paragraph with "One cause was ...".
Facts with no link. A date or figure alone is not enough. Say how it helped to bring about the outcome.
Writing about effects. Do not explain what happened afterwards.

Exam-style question

New context, new fact file. Write two paragraphs using point, evidence, explain.

Fact file: the Peasants' Revolt, 1381

The Black Death arrived in England in 1348 and killed a large part of the population.
Workers were now scarce, so peasants asked for higher wages and landlords had to pay more.
In 1351 the Statute of Labourers tried to keep wages at their old, lower level.
The government raised a poll tax, a tax of the same amount on every person, in 1377, 1379 and 1380.
The 1380 tax was a shilling a head, a lot for a poor family.
The revolt began in Essex and Kent in the summer of 1381.
The king, Richard II, was only 14 at the time.

Question

Explain TWO causes of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. [8 marks]

Model answer

One cause was the labour laws that followed the Black Death. After the plague arrived in 1348, workers were scarce, so peasants asked for higher wages. The Statute of Labourers in 1351 tried to keep wages at their old level. This meant that peasants could not gain from the shortage of workers, which built up lasting anger against landlords and the government.

Another cause was the poll tax. The government raised it in 1377, 1379 and 1380, and the 1380 tax was a shilling a head, charged at the same rate to rich and poor. Because it hit poor families hardest, it made resentment boil over. This led to the revolt starting in Essex and Kent in the summer of 1381.

Exam tip

Before you write, label your two causes with their kind, such as "long-term, economic" and "short-term, political". If both labels match, change one cause.

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