ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with how people perceive historical causation: What do people believe to be the causes of historical events? We chose to study the issue of historical causation primarily because it is one of the most fundamental topics of historical understanding, and therefore also one of the most important aspects of history instruction. Moreover, the study of historical causation also is related to other fundamental questions of understanding history, questions of historical explanation, historical narrative, the role of the historian, and the mental representations of historical events.
