Word
Monocausal
Explaining an outcome through a single cause
Examples
The monocausal account blamed the war entirely on an assassination.
A monocausal explanation may fit a narrow mechanism while failing to explain a larger historical event.
Origin
The word combines mono, one, with causal. A single cause can explain some events. Others require several causes and an account of how they interact.
How it connects
Monocausal names the temptation to let one event carry the whole explanation.
This word appeared in The trigger is not the whole explanation, the Involves connection for October 23, 2026, which asked: Why does one event produce a crisis here but not everywhere?
Check yourself
Which account is monocausal?
One factor alone explains the entire outcome. Exactly. Monocausal describes reliance on a single cause.
What the sources establish
A single-trigger account can omit conditions and decisions needed to explain the war's expansion.
Sources
The Outbreak of the First World War (Imperial War Museums), Assassination, July Crisis, alliances and decisions
Why Did World War I Happen? (Council on Foreign Relations Education), Long-term factors and immediate escalation