SW3 Prompt: Historians struggle to answer the question of why the witch hunts oc

SW3 Prompt:
Historians struggle to answer the question of why the witch hunts occurred. One of the problems in drawing any single conclusion for all of Europe is that they played out so differently across the different regions of Europe. You’ve now seen all of your colleagues’ presentations and had the chance to look through them. Consider regional similarities and differences and answer the following question:
What caused the witch hunts? That is, identify one element that seemed to play a role in the witch hunts in several different regions. You can of course argue that the hunts had many contributing factors, but what seems to be the most important?
HINT: As you consider the question and in the paper, think about both why the witch hunts started AND why they stopped. If you argue that X caused the witch hunts but X continues long past the end of the witch hunt, your argument isn’t very convincing.
In either case, you need to use evidence from the timelines (yours and others) and should also draw on evidence from your research and class readings. I expect you to make explicit reference to at least 2 class presentations beyond your own and 2 class readings. You may of course use more and bring in evidence from readings you did for your presentation (but don’t get bonus points for every additional reference).
Please use in-text citation when referring to your classmates timelines and good old Chicago Manual of Style footnotes when citing texts from the course or your research. That is: In Poland we see blah blah (Smith, Poland). or As Smith demonstrates for Poland blah blah.