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Abitur History practice questions

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Question 1Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

In der Quellenanalyse zur Französischen Revolution untersuchst du ein Dekret der Nationalversammlung von 1789. Welches Merkmal kennzeichnet einen solchen normativen Text (texte normatif) im Unterschied zu einer erzählenden Quelle?

  1. Er formuliert verbindliche Regeln und verwendet häufig performative Formeln wie „décrète“ oder „ordonne“. Correct answer.
  2. Er schildert persönliche Empfindungen des Verfassers und ist daher subjektiv gefärbt.
  3. Er beschreibt Ereignisse chronologisch aus der Perspektive eines Augenzeugen.
  4. Er liefert statistische Reihen, die quantitative Vergleiche ermöglichen.

Explanation

Normative Quellen wie Dekrete oder Gesetze legen verbindliche Regeln fest. Performative Formeln signalisieren, dass der Text selbst eine Rechtswirkung erzeugt, statt bloß zu berichten. Deshalb prüft man bei ihnen vor allem Adressat, Reichweite und Rechtskraft.

Question 2Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

What event conventionally opens the political transition associated with the Novemberrevolution 1918 in Germany?

  1. The founding of the Bundesrepublik in 1949
  2. The building of the Berliner Mauer in 1961
  3. Sailors’ mutiny at Kiel and the cascading Räte/Arbeiter- und Soldatenräte movement culminating in Kaiser Wilhelm II’s abdication Correct answer.
  4. The Maastricht Treaty in 1992

Explanation

The Novemberrevolution began with the Kiel Matrosenaufstand (late Oct/early Nov 1918), spread via Arbeiter- und Soldatenräte, and led to the Kaiser’s abdication and proclamation of a republic.

Question 3German division, Cold War, détente and European integration

The Marshall Plan, launched in 1947, is best described as which instrument of early Cold War policy?

  1. A nuclear disarmament framework
  2. A military alliance for collective defence
  3. A colonial independence charter
  4. An economic aid programme for European reconstruction Correct answer.

Explanation

The Marshall Plan channelled American financial aid into Western European reconstruction after 1947. Its economic purpose was paired with the political aim of stabilising states against communist influence.

Question 4Revolutions, industrialization and nineteenth-century German society

Was kennzeichnete das Ancien Régime als Gesellschaftsordnung, die von den Revolutionären von 1789 infrage gestellt wurde?

  1. Ein zentralistischer Nationalstaat mit allgemeinem Wahlrecht für Männer
  2. Eine ständische Ordnung mit rechtlich privilegierten Klerikern und Adeligen sowie unterschiedlicher Steuerpflicht Correct answer.
  3. Eine föderale Republik mit weitgehender Selbstverwaltung der Provinzen
  4. Eine Klassengesellschaft, in der allein das Bürgertum politische Rechte besaß

Explanation

Das Ancien Régime beruhte auf der Dreiständegesellschaft mit rechtlichen Privilegien von Klerus und Adel, die unter anderem von der direkten Steuer befreit waren. Genau diese Ungleichheit vor dem Gesetz wurde 1789 zum Kern der revolutionären Kritik.

Question 5Imperial rivalry, World War I and the interwar order

Welches Ereignis gilt als unmittelbarer Auslöser des Ersten Weltkriegs im Juli 1914?

  1. Der Abschluss des Versailler Vertrags
  2. Die Ermordung des österreichischen Thronfolgers Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo Correct answer.
  3. Der Ausbruch der Russischen Revolution
  4. Der Rücktritt Bismarcks als Reichskanzler

Explanation

Am 28. Juni 1914 wurden Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand und seine Frau in Sarajevo von Gavrilo Princip erschossen. Österreich-Ungarn nutzte dies für ein Ultimatum an Serbien, woraus über die Bündnissysteme der Weltkrieg entstand. Die anderen genannten Ereignisse liegen zeitlich davor oder danach und sind keine Kriegsauslöser.

Question 6Nazi dictatorship, war, persecution and the Holocaust

Welches Ereignis markiert in der deutschen Geschichte den Übergang von der Weimarer Republik zur nationalsozialistischen Diktatur im Jahr 1933?

  1. Das Ermächtigungsgesetz vom 24. März 1933
  2. Der Reichstagsbrand am 27. Februar 1933
  3. Die Ernennung Adolf Hitlers zum Reichskanzler am 30. Januar 1933 Correct answer.
  4. Die Reichstagswahl vom 5. März 1933

Explanation

Die Ernennung Hitlers zum Reichskanzler durch Reichspräsident Hindenburg am 30. Januar 1933 gilt als Beginn der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft. Die übrigen Ereignisse folgten später und bauten die Diktatur weiter aus.

Question 7China, imperial pressure and political transformation in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Which 2026 verbindliches Wahlmodul addresses China's encounter with imperialist powers?

  1. Wahlmodul 7: Die russischen Revolutionen
  2. Wahlmodul 9: China und die imperialistischen Mächte Correct answer.
  3. Wahlmodul 4: Der Erste Weltkrieg only as European trench warfare
  4. Wahlmodul 1: Mythen without any Konkretisierung

Explanation

The 2026 Hinweise place Wahlmodul 9 'China und die imperialistischen Mächte' in the 2. Schulhalbjahr / Rahmenthema 2.

Question 8Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

In source analysis, what is a primary source?

  1. A document or object produced in the historical period being studied Correct answer.
  2. A modern textbook chapter about the period
  3. A student's summary of a documentary
  4. A later encyclopedia entry with no original evidence

Explanation

A primary source comes from the time, place, or people under investigation. It can still be biased, but it is direct historical evidence for analysis.

Question 9Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why is historical context important when interpreting a political speech?

  1. It helps explain the speaker's aims, constraints, and audience Correct answer.
  2. It proves the speech is completely objective
  3. It replaces close reading of the speech
  4. It makes the exact wording irrelevant

Explanation

Context connects the source to its situation: who spoke, to whom, when, and under what pressures. That helps explain meaning and intention.

Question 10Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

When analyzing a source, why should you identify the intended audience?

  1. Audience can shape tone, selection of facts, and persuasive strategy Correct answer.
  2. Audience makes the source automatically false
  3. Audience matters only for novels, not political texts
  4. Audience replaces the need to know the author

Explanation

A source written for voters, officials, party members, or foreign governments may emphasize different claims and omit different facts.

Question 11Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

In a political cartoon, what should be analyzed first?

  1. Visual symbols, labels, exaggeration, and the historical situation Correct answer.
  2. Only the artist's handwriting style
  3. The market price of the paper
  4. The number of people who later saw it online

Explanation

Cartoons communicate through visual codes, symbols, captions, exaggeration, and context. These features support an interpretation of message and perspective.

Question 12Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A minister's diary says a policy was unavoidable, while cabinet minutes show several alternatives were discussed. What is the best source-critical conclusion?

  1. The diary reveals a later self-justification that should be compared with other evidence Correct answer.
  2. The diary must be accepted because it is personal
  3. The minutes must be ignored because they are official
  4. Both sources prove historians cannot know anything

Explanation

Personal sources can reveal motives but also self-defense. Contradictory evidence should be compared for timing, purpose, and perspective.

Question 13Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A Nazi document uses bureaucratic language such as resettlement while discussing deportations. What should a historian consider?

  1. Euphemistic language may hide violence and requires contextual interpretation Correct answer.
  2. Bureaucratic wording proves humane policy
  3. The document has no value because it avoids direct words
  4. Only the paper size matters

Explanation

Perpetrator documents often use euphemisms. Historians compare wording with context and other evidence to interpret what policies meant in practice.

Question 14Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A Stasi report on a church youth group should be read with which caution?

  1. It may reveal surveillance priorities and bias as much as the group's actual behavior Correct answer.
  2. It is neutral because police records are never ideological
  3. It is useless because state records cannot contain facts
  4. It should be interpreted without knowing the GDR context

Explanation

Secret police reports can preserve factual observations, but their categories, suspicions, and institutional goals shape what they record.

Question 15Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which question best evaluates source provenance?

  1. Who produced it, when, where, for whom, and for what purpose? Correct answer.
  2. How many letters are in the title?
  3. Can it be memorized without context?
  4. Does it agree with my first opinion?

Explanation

Provenance examines origin, authorship, date, place, audience, and purpose, which are essential for judging source value and limits.

Question 16Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which statement about non-written sources is best?

  1. Images, maps, objects, buildings, statistics, and audio can be historical sources if interpreted critically Correct answer.
  2. Only handwritten letters count as sources
  3. Non-written sources have no perspective
  4. Images never need context

Explanation

Historical sources include many media. Each type requires attention to form, production, audience, purpose, and context.

Question 17Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A 1914 newspaper editorial describes war as a cleansing national renewal. Which interpretation is strongest?

  1. It is evidence of nationalist war enthusiasm among some public voices, but not proof that all citizens felt the same Correct answer.
  2. It proves every European welcomed war equally
  3. It is worthless because newspapers never influence opinion
  4. It proves the military situation in 1918

Explanation

The editorial is valuable for language, ideology, and public discourse, but its representativeness must be tested against other sources and social groups.

Question 18Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A graph shows unemployment and extremist vote share rising together from 1929 to 1932. What is the strongest interpretation?

  1. It supports a correlation that must be combined with political and cultural evidence before claiming causation Correct answer.
  2. It proves unemployment was the only cause of extremism
  3. It proves economic data are irrelevant
  4. It shows the Treaty of Rome caused the Nazi vote

Explanation

The graph is important evidence for a relationship, but causation requires mechanisms, comparison, and other evidence such as propaganda, institutions, and voter behavior.

Question 19Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

When comparing perpetrator testimony and survivor testimony about Nazi crimes, which principle is most important?

  1. Analyze purpose, trauma, self-justification, position, and corroboration without treating perspectives as morally equivalent Correct answer.
  2. Assume perpetrator testimony is always more reliable
  3. Assume survivor testimony never requires context
  4. Ignore both because testimony is not a source

Explanation

Both types are sources needing contextual reading, but ethical and analytical care requires recognizing power, violence, trauma, and self-exculpation.

Question 20Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why is the war guilt question for World War I a historiographical issue?

  1. Historians debate responsibility by interpreting evidence, decisions, structures, and intentions Correct answer.
  2. It has no sources at all
  3. It can be solved by counting casualties only
  4. It concerns only grammar in the Treaty of Rome

Explanation

The war guilt debate involves changing interpretations of diplomatic evidence, military planning, political culture, and the actions of several powers.

Question 21Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A historian's account differs from another historian's account of the same event. What is the best first explanation?

  1. They may ask different questions, use different evidence, or apply different interpretive frameworks Correct answer.
  2. One of them must have no sources at all
  3. Historical interpretation is identical to fiction
  4. Dates stop mattering in historiography

Explanation

Historiographical disagreement often comes from different questions, evidence, concepts, methods, and values used to interpret the past.

Question 22Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why is a historical narrative not just a list of facts?

  1. It selects, connects, and explains evidence in response to a question Correct answer.
  2. It ignores all evidence
  3. It must always be written by a government
  4. It never uses chronology

Explanation

Historical narratives organize evidence into meaningful sequences and explanations. They depend on selection, context, and argument.

Question 23Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A continuity thesis from the Kaiserreich to Nazism must be handled carefully because why?

  1. Some structures and mentalities persisted, but 1918, Weimar democracy, crisis, and choices also mattered Correct answer.
  2. There were no changes in Germany after 1871
  3. Nazism was already fully established in 1871
  4. Historians are forbidden to compare periods

Explanation

Continuity arguments can illuminate long-term factors, but strong analysis also considers ruptures, contingencies, and the specific dynamics of Weimar and Nazi politics.

Question 24Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why is memory culture different from academic history, even though they overlap?

  1. Memory culture concerns public remembrance, identity, rituals, and monuments; academic history emphasizes source-based research and argument Correct answer.
  2. Memory culture uses no past events at all
  3. Academic history never uses sources
  4. Monuments automatically give complete historical explanations

Explanation

Public remembrance and scholarship influence each other, but they have different aims, media, audiences, and standards of argument.

Question 25Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

In debates about Nazi policy, what is the main difference between intentionalist and structuralist approaches?

  1. Intentionalists stress Hitler's ideology and aims; structuralists stress competing institutions, cumulative radicalization, and system dynamics Correct answer.
  2. Intentionalists deny Hitler existed; structuralists deny institutions existed
  3. Both approaches reject all source evidence
  4. The debate concerns only medieval church history

Explanation

The debate concerns how to weigh ideological intention against administrative rivalry, radicalizing practice, and structures of rule.

Question 26Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

What is a careful use of the Sonderweg thesis in an Abitur essay?

  1. Present it as a debated interpretation about Germany's path to modernity, then test it against evidence and counterarguments Correct answer.
  2. Treat it as an unquestioned law proving 1933 was inevitable
  3. Use it to avoid discussing Weimar and Nazi sources
  4. Claim it means Germany had no industrialization

Explanation

The Sonderweg thesis is a historiographical interpretation, not a settled law. It should be evaluated through evidence, scope, and alternative explanations.

Question 27Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why did Fritz Fischer's thesis about World War I provoke major debate?

  1. It argued for significant German responsibility and expansionist aims, challenging more defensive national interpretations Correct answer.
  2. It claimed World War I never happened
  3. It proved the Cold War began in 1815
  4. It focused only on Roman trade routes

Explanation

Fischer's work shifted debate by emphasizing German war aims and responsibility, making the war guilt question a central historiographical controversy.

Question 28Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

How do post-revisionist interpretations of Cold War origins usually differ from purely orthodox or revisionist accounts?

  1. They emphasize interaction, mutual suspicion, security dilemmas, ideology, and both superpowers' choices Correct answer.
  2. They blame only the Soviet Union in every respect
  3. They blame only the United States in every respect
  4. They deny that ideology mattered at all

Explanation

Post-revisionist accounts often move beyond single-blame explanations by analyzing reciprocal fears, power vacuums, ideology, and decision-making on both sides.

Question 29Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A city removes a monument to a colonial official. Which historical question best moves beyond a simple for-or-against debate?

  1. What did the monument mean when erected, how did meanings change, and whose perspectives were excluded? Correct answer.
  2. How heavy is the stone, and nothing else?
  3. Can all colonial history be reduced to one person's biography?
  4. Should historians avoid public memory questions entirely?

Explanation

A strong public-history analysis asks about original context, later reinterpretation, power, memory, and excluded perspectives.

Question 30Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why is the phrase zero hour for 1945 historically problematic?

  1. It captures a sense of rupture but can hide continuities in personnel, mentalities, institutions, and social conditions Correct answer.
  2. It proves every institution began entirely from nothing
  3. It means World War II started in 1945
  4. It has no connection to postwar Germany

Explanation

Zero hour is useful as a memory term for collapse and restart, but historians test it against evidence of both rupture and continuity after 1945.

Question 31Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

In the Weimar Constitution, Article 48 is best known for allowing the Reich President to do what?

  1. Issue emergency decrees under certain conditions Correct answer.
  2. Abolish all elections automatically
  3. Join NATO without parliament
  4. Create the European Coal and Steel Community

Explanation

Article 48 allowed presidential emergency decrees. Its use and abuse weakened parliamentary democracy in the late Weimar Republic.

Question 32Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

What did the Enabling Act of March 1933 allow Hitler's government to do?

  1. Pass laws without normal parliamentary procedure Correct answer.
  2. Hold free multi-party elections under Allied supervision
  3. Transfer Germany into the Warsaw Pact
  4. Create a federal constitutional court

Explanation

The Enabling Act allowed the cabinet to enact laws without normal Reichstag involvement, a key legal step in dismantling Weimar democracy.

Question 33Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

The Nazi term Gleichschaltung refers most directly to which process?

  1. Forcing institutions into line with Nazi rule Correct answer.
  2. Negotiating European coal tariffs
  3. Building a democratic coalition cabinet
  4. Separating church and state completely

Explanation

Gleichschaltung means the coordination or forced alignment of political, social, and cultural institutions with Nazi control.

Question 34Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Which feature is most typical of a liberal democracy?

  1. Competitive elections and protection of basic rights Correct answer.
  2. One-party rule without public opposition
  3. Rule by secret police alone
  4. A ban on independent courts

Explanation

Liberal democracy combines popular participation through elections with constitutional limits, rights, and rule of law.

Question 35Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Which feature shows a democratic deficit in the German Empire after 1871?

  1. The chancellor was responsible to the emperor rather than to a parliamentary majority Correct answer.
  2. The Reichstag was elected by universal male suffrage
  3. Political parties competed for seats
  4. The empire had a federal structure

Explanation

Although the Reichstag was elected, the government was not responsible to parliament in the modern parliamentary sense; the chancellor depended on the emperor.

Question 36Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Which statement best captures a structural weakness of the Weimar Republic?

  1. Its democratic institutions faced hostile elites, fragmented parties, emergency powers, and crisis pressures Correct answer.
  2. It had no constitution at all
  3. It was never affected by economic problems
  4. It banned all political parties from the beginning

Explanation

Weimar had democratic achievements but was vulnerable to anti-democratic forces, party fragmentation, presidential emergency rule, and severe economic shocks.

Question 37Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Which idea was central to Nazi ideology?

  1. Racial antisemitism linked to a vision of an exclusionary Volksgemeinschaft Correct answer.
  2. Pluralist democracy and equal citizenship for all residents
  3. International socialist equality without nationalism
  4. Constitutional protection of opposition parties

Explanation

Nazi ideology centered on racial hierarchy, antisemitism, leader principle, militarism, and an exclusionary national community.

Question 38Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Which combination best describes Nazi consolidation of power in 1933-34?

  1. Legal measures, terror, propaganda, party coordination, and elimination of rivals Correct answer.
  2. Immediate free elections with fair media access for all parties
  3. Withdrawal from all control over culture and education
  4. A peaceful transfer to parliamentary accountability

Explanation

The Nazi regime consolidated power through laws such as the Enabling Act, violence by SA/SS, control of institutions, propaganda, and repression of opponents.

Question 39Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Why must resistance to Nazi rule be studied with attention to possibilities and limits?

  1. Opposition existed, but terror, surveillance, social pressure, and divided aims constrained action Correct answer.
  2. There was no opposition of any kind
  3. All Germans joined a single resistance organization
  4. Resistance was always risk-free after 1933

Explanation

Resistance ranged from nonconformity to assassination attempts, but the dictatorship's repression and social conditions made action dangerous and difficult.

Question 40Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

The East German uprising of 17 June 1953 showed what about the early GDR?

  1. Economic pressure and political repression could produce mass protest despite dictatorship Correct answer.
  2. The GDR was a fully pluralist democracy
  3. The Berlin Wall had already solved all emigration problems
  4. The Soviet Union had no influence in East Germany

Explanation

The uprising began with work-norm protests and expanded into political demands, revealing instability and the role of Soviet force in preserving the regime.

Question 41Weimar democracy, postwar reckoning and public memory

Which feature is commonly associated with totalitarian dictatorship?

  1. A claim to control politics, society, ideology, and public mobilization under one ruling movement Correct answer.
  2. Independent courts checking the ruling party
  3. Regular peaceful alternation of power
  4. Constitutional protection for opposition newspapers

Explanation

Totalitarian regimes seek comprehensive control and mobilization through ideology, party monopoly, coercion, propaganda, and surveillance.

Question 42Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

A causation question in history mainly asks students to do what?

  1. Explain why an event or development happened Correct answer.
  2. Memorize a date without context
  3. Copy a source without interpretation
  4. Describe only the weather on a single day

Explanation

Causation involves identifying and weighing factors such as structures, decisions, crises, ideologies, and contingencies that produced an outcome.

Question 43Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which set of factors best explains the revolutions of 1848 in Europe?

  1. Liberal demands, national aspirations, social distress, and economic crisis Correct answer.
  2. A sudden desire to restore feudal serfdom everywhere
  3. The creation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact
  4. The immediate effects of the Maastricht Treaty

Explanation

The 1848 revolutions combined political liberalism, nationalism, social tensions, and economic hardship across much of Europe.

Question 44Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which combination best explains the outbreak of World War I?

  1. Alliance commitments, militarism, nationalism, imperial rivalries, and crisis decisions after Sarajevo Correct answer.
  2. Only the invention of the telephone
  3. Only the Treaty of Maastricht
  4. The immediate collapse of the Soviet Union

Explanation

World War I resulted from both long-term tensions and short-term decisions after the assassination in Sarajevo.

Question 45Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Why did the Great Depression contribute to political radicalization in Germany?

  1. Mass unemployment and social fear weakened trust in moderate parties and democracy Correct answer.
  2. It ended unemployment immediately
  3. It removed extremist propaganda from public life
  4. It gave the Reichstag stable majority governments

Explanation

The depression created mass unemployment and desperation, which anti-democratic parties exploited through promises, scapegoating, and attacks on the republic.

Question 46Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which explanation of the Nazi rise to power is most historically adequate?

  1. It combined economic crisis, anti-democratic elites, propaganda, violence, voter support, and institutional weaknesses Correct answer.
  2. It happened because one cause alone explains all events
  3. It was inevitable from 1871
  4. It was caused by the European Union

Explanation

A strong answer weighs interacting factors rather than reducing the Nazi rise to a single cause or calling it inevitable.

Question 47Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which factor helped make the East German revolution of 1989 peaceful?

  1. Mass demonstrations, church spaces, reform pressure in the Soviet bloc, and regime hesitation interacted Correct answer.
  2. The GDR leadership planned free elections from the start
  3. The Warsaw Pact invaded immediately to support reformers
  4. The Berlin Wall had been removed in 1975

Explanation

Peaceful revolution resulted from civic mobilization, protected spaces, international change, and the weakening willingness of authorities to use massive force.

Question 48Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

When weighing causes, why should a student separate ideology from material interests?

  1. They can interact, but they explain different motives and should not be collapsed into one vague cause Correct answer.
  2. Ideology never affects history
  3. Material interests are always invented by historians
  4. Only one type of cause is allowed in Abitur history

Explanation

Ideology, economic interests, security fears, and social structures may reinforce each other, but separating them makes causal analysis clearer.

Question 49Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

Which counterfactual claim would be most acceptable in a historical judgment about Weimar's collapse?

  1. If used cautiously, it can test how important a factor was, but it must remain tied to evidence and plausible alternatives Correct answer.
  2. Any imagined alternative is as valid as documented history
  3. Counterfactuals prove exactly what would have happened
  4. Counterfactual reasoning means sources are unnecessary

Explanation

Limited counterfactual reasoning can clarify contingency and causal weight, but it should not replace evidence or become unlimited speculation.

Question 50Historical evidence, chronology and justified interpretation

In causal analysis, why distinguish necessary from sufficient causes?

  1. A factor may be required for an outcome without producing it by itself Correct answer.
  2. Every cause is automatically sufficient
  3. Necessary causes are always unimportant
  4. Sufficient causes can never be discussed in history

Explanation

Historical outcomes often require several interacting conditions. A necessary factor may enable an event, while no single factor alone is sufficient.