Part I. Overview of Debates about the Causes of the First World War: 1. Introduction: historians, political scientists, and the causes of the First World War Jack S. Levy and John A. Vasquez; 2. July 1914 revisited and revised: the erosion of the German paradigm Samuel R. Williamson, Jr; Part II. Structure and Agency: 3. Strategic rivalries and complex causality in 1914 Karen Rasler and William R. Thompson; 4. 'A formidable factor in European politics': views of Russia in 1914 T. G. Otte; Part III. The Question of Preventive War: 5. Restraints on preventive war before 1914 William Mulligan; 6. The sources of preventive logic in German decision-making in 1914 Jack S. Levy; 7. International relations theory and the three great puzzles of the First World War Dale C. Copeland; 8. Was the First World War a preventive war? Concepts, criteria, and evidence John A. Vasquez; Part IV. The Role of the Other Powers: 9. War accepted but unsought: Russia's growing militancy and the July Crisis, 1914 Ronald P. Bobroff; 10. France's unreadiness for war in 1914 and its implications for French decision-making in the July Crisis J. F. V. Keiger.