Key Idea: Conflict never has just one cause. Historians look for four kinds of pressure — economic, political, social and environmental — building up over the long term, until a short-term trigger finally sets off the violence. This topic gives you that four-pressure lens and asks you to apply it to real conflicts from at least two different IB regions.
How this topic is tested (Paper 2)
§A is a mini-essay on a concept [6] — e.g. explain what is meant by a "trigger" for conflict. §B(a) asks you to explain something briefly using one example [4]. §B(b) is the big one: a "to what extent" essay [15] that MUST use at least two examples from at least two different IB regions, with explicit comparison and a running judgement — not just a conclusion tacked on the end.
Because this is a thematic study, there are no fixed set conflicts to memorise. You choose which ones to learn. Build a toolkit of 3-4 well-understood conflicts from different regions, and practise comparing them under the four-pressure lens.
Must-know facts — every part of 6.1
This topic has one micro, 6.1.1, taught across four sections. Together they build one connected argument — here is everything each section covers.
| Section | What it teaches |
|---|---|
| 1. Four pressures, one spectrum | Societies sit on a spectrum from peaceful cooperation to open conflict (two or more groups using violence to settle a dispute). Four pressures recur: economic (resource/land competition, inequality, reparations), political (rival ambitions, alliances, nationalism, a collapsing political order), social (ethnic/religious division, inherited grievance, mobilised populations), environmental (land/resource pressure, famine, population growth). Key concept: cause and consequence — long-term causes build pressure; a short-term trigger releases it. |
| 2. Case study: First World War (Europe, 1914) | Political: rigid alliance blocs — Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy) vs Triple Entente (France, Russia, Britain) — plus Balkan nationalism against Austria-Hungary. Economic: German industrial growth challenging Britain, imperial rivalry for colonies and trade. Social/military: militarism and detailed mobilisation plans (Germany's Schlieffen Plan). Trigger: assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, 28 June 1914, pulling in every major power within weeks. Perspectives: German leaders claimed self-defence against encirclement; Serbian nationalists saw self-determination; historian Fritz Fischer (1960s) argued Germany bore deliberate responsibility. |
| 3. Case study: Rwandan genocide (Africa & Middle East, 1994) + comparison | About 800,000 Rwandans, mostly ethnic Tutsi, killed in 100 days. Political: Belgian colonial rule (from 1916) hardened Hutu/Tutsi into rigid identity-card categories (1933); extremist Hutu Power ideology and Radio Mille Collines propaganda mobilised killing. Economic: coffee price collapse and one of the world's highest population densities drove fierce competition for farmland. Social: decades of dehumanising propaganda and civilians organised into the Interahamwe militia. Trigger: President Habyarimana's plane shot down, 6 April 1994. Concept: continuity and change — a colonial-era structure outlived colonial rule and shaped violence 80 years later. Widen your toolkit: Vietnam War (Asia & Oceania, Cold War ideology + anti-colonial nationalism) and the Mexican Revolution (Americas, from 1910, land inequality + Porfirio Díaz's dictatorship). |
| 4. Summary & exam skills | Recaps the four-pressure pattern as a lens usable on any conflict, ties concepts together (cause and consequence, continuity and change, perspectives, significance), and models a full §B(b) answer-plan on 'To what extent were economic factors the main cause of conflict emerging in the twentieth century?' [15]. |
- Cause and consequence — separate long-term pressures from the short-term trigger that finally sparks violence.
- Continuity and change — some causes, like Rwanda's colonial-era ethnic categories, are structures that persisted for decades before erupting.
- Perspectives — combatants, victims and later historians can explain the same conflict's causes very differently.
- Significance — judge which pressures mattered most, and say why, rather than just listing them.
Modelled exam question
To what extent were economic factors the main cause of conflict emerging in the twentieth century? [15]
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Important: Naming pressures without explaining them, or picking two examples from the SAME region. Paper 2 §B(b) explicitly requires examples from at least two different IB regions — a two-region European essay (say, WWI and WWII) will lose marks even if the content is excellent. Always pair a conflict from Europe or the Americas with one from Africa & the Middle East or Asia & Oceania.
What is the difference between a long-term cause and a short-term trigger? A long-term cause builds pressure over years or decades (e.g. the European alliance system building since the 1880s). A short-term trigger is the single event that finally sets off the violence (e.g. the Sarajevo assassination in June 1914).
Name the four types of pressure that cause conflict. Economic (resource, trade, land competition, inequality, reparations), political (rival ambitions, alliances, nationalism, collapsing order), social (ethnic/religious division, grievance, mobilised populations), and environmental (land/resource pressure, famine, population growth).
What triggered the First World War, and what pressures had built up beforehand? The trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Long-term pressures were the Triple Alliance/Triple Entente system, Balkan nationalism, German-British industrial and imperial rivalry, and militarism (e.g. the Schlieffen Plan).
What triggered the Rwandan genocide, and what colonial-era structure shaped it? The trigger was President Habyarimana's plane being shot down on 6 April 1994. The shaping structure was Belgian colonial rule (from 1916), which hardened Hutu/Tutsi into fixed identity-card categories in 1933 — a policy that outlived colonial rule and fed the 1994 violence.
How did economic pressure feature differently in the WWI and Rwanda examples? In WWI, economic rivalry was industrial and imperial (Germany vs Britain competing for markets and colonies). In Rwanda, it was a coffee price collapse and extreme land scarcity from high population density — both created tension, but neither alone caused the violence without a political trigger.
Why does the exam reward 'perspectives' on causation? Because participants and historians can disagree about why a conflict started. For WWI, German leaders claimed defensive encirclement while historian Fritz Fischer argued Germany bore deliberate responsibility — showing the same event can be explained very differently depending on who is judging it.
Always use two regions in §B(b), never two from the same one. State your thesis in your opening paragraph and repeat mini-judgements after each example, not just at the end. Keep 3-4 conflicts ready (e.g. WWI, Rwanda, Vietnam, Mexican Revolution) so you can match whichever pressure the question asks about. Always separate long-term causes from the short-term trigger — examiners reward this distinction explicitly.