Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

The raw cotton shortage in the 1860s was caused by the American Civil War. When war broke out in America, cotton supplies from the US to Britain were cut off. Britain then turned to India for raw cotton, so raw cotton exports from India increased sharply and prices shot up.

This made the weavers' situation far worse because they were already struggling to compete with cheap Manchester imports. Now they faced a double blow: their sales were depressed by cheap foreign cloth, yet their production costs rose because raw cotton had to be bought at exorbitant prices. Either problem alone might have been survivable, but together — low selling prices and high input costs — made weaving completely unviable.

Source: Chapter 4, Section 3.3 — Manchester Comes to India

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• Cause (1 mark): American Civil War → US cotton cut off → Britain sourced from India → raw cotton prices in India soared.
• Combined effect (2 marks): Examiners want you to show why the combination is worse — low revenue (Manchester competition) + high costs (raw cotton prices) = loss at every step. Mentioning either problem alone doesn't earn full marks; you must explain the interaction.
• Keep the answer focused and avoid listing unrelated facts about the textile decline.