Separate peace
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A separate peace is a nation's agreement to cease military hostilities with another even though the former country had previously entered into a
During the
An earlier important example is the Franco-Dutch War of 1672, which France and England entered together, but from which the English withdrew unilaterally by a separate peace with the Dutch, the Treaty of Westminster (1674).
Legal obligations not to conclude separate peace
It is customary, in cases of war waged by several allies, to reach a peace accord or declaration with the agreement of all parties to the alliance, instead of creating a separate peace with opposing forces. An example of such an undertaking was included in the alliance treaty concluded between the
A declaration to that effect was issued on September 4, 1914, by the British, French and Russian governments, which briefly stated
The British, French, and Russian Governments mutually engage not to conclude peace separately during the present war. The three Governments agree that when terms of peace come to be discussed, no one of the allies will demand conditions of peace without the previous agreement of each of the other allies.[2]
The Japanese government acceded to this declaration on October 19, 1915.[3]
On November 30, 1915, the same four governments, now joined by the Italian government, issued a similar joint declaration regarding avoiding separate peace.[4]
The obligation to refrain from separate peace was also made during the Second World War in both camps. The Tripartite Pact between the German, Italian and Japanese governments committed the three to prosecute the war together. On the Allied camp, that obligation was contained in the United Nations Declaration of January 1, 1942.
A similar obligation arose within the Arab League, in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, not to reach any separate peace treaty with the Israeli government, in order to assure that a collective arrangement would take into consideration the interests of all Arab states plus the Palestinians. The Egyptian government under Anwar Sadat acted in contrast to that rule when it decided to conclude a separate peace treaty in 1979.
Notes
- ^ Ludwig Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. 3, p. 330
- ^ Declaration of Sept. 4, 1914, Declaration of the Triple Entente
- ^ Japanese note of accession Archived 2012-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Accession of Japan to the Declaration between United Kingdom, France and Russia.
- ^ Declaration of November 30, 1915 Archived September 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Declaration between the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan and Russia engaging not to conclude peace separately during the present war