A separate peace is an agreement between two states at war, which they enter into secretly and without the participation or against the wishes of their allies or members of the coalition of which they represent.
Examples
While waging a joint struggle against a common enemy, members of such communities quite often undertake not to conclude such agreements with him. Therefore, during the Second World War, 26 of the countries that are representatives of the anti-Hitler association signed the Declaration of the United Nations, according to which they did not have the right to conclude a peace treaty with opponents. An analogous example is the agreement between the USSR and Great Britain.
A separate peace was also concluded between Egypt and Israel in 1979, while other Arab countries strongly opposed such agreements.
Prerequisites for the Brest peace
The first meeting dedicated to the signing of a peace treaty between Russia and Germany took place in Brest-Litovsk in 1917. The Soviet delegation proposed to create a document that would be fully consistent with the ideauniversal democratic peace. Germany, however, was not satisfied with such a proposal, since their military districts did not want to back down from their desire to capture enemy territories, which only increased during the negotiations.
Separate peace with Germany, according to the requirements of the Nazi representatives, provided for tough conditions put forward by Russia. They were given only 48 hours to complete. Simultaneously with the announcement of their claims, the Austro-German army launched an offensive on all fronts, threatening to occupy Petrograd. The Soviet representatives had no choice but to accept all the conditions put forward by the enemies, since the troops were at a transitional stage. The old army refused to fight the enemy and was clearly demoralized, while the new one, the Workers' and Peasants', was at the initial stage of formation.
Signing
Despite the attitude of the left communists and socialist-revolutionaries towards this treaty, who accused the Bolshevik government of betraying the revolution and betraying interests, a separate peace between Russia and Germany was signed in March 1918 during the IV Extraordinary Congress of Soviets.
The semblance of a truce did not last long. After the November Revolution took place in Germany, and the countries of the Fourth Alliance were defeated, the Bolsheviks decided to cancel the peace agreement unilaterally.
Basel Peace
In 1795, in the city of Basel, France, two peacefulagreements: one - on April 5 with Prussia, the second - on July 22 with Spain. The prerequisite for the creation of such agreements was the fact that Russia began to play an important role in the position of European states. Thus, Prussia was no longer part of Poland, and its king refused to remain a member of the coalition that opposed the French Republic. In addition, he did not want to declare war on her and was ready to support all the rulers of the states who were his like-minded people in this matter.
Separate peace with Prussia assumed the refusal of the Prussian king from his overseas possessions, which he ceded to the French Republic. In addition, Prussia would receive a certain payment if the left bank of the Rhine River was free.
Conclusion
Separate peace can rightly be considered an important tool that contributes to a favorable outcome of the war for both belligerent states. The conclusion of such agreements can save many lives and ensure the territorial integrity of the countries that signed them.
