Non-aggression pact

A non-aggression pact or neutrality pact is a treaty between two or more states/countries that includes a promise by the signatories not to engage in military action against each other.^[1] Such treaties may be described by other names, such as a treaty of friendship or non-belligerency, etc. Leeds, Ritter, Mitchell, & Long (2002) distinguish between a non-aggression pact and a neutrality pact.^[2] They posit that a non-aggression pact includes the promise not to attack the other pact signatories, whereas a neutrality pact includes a promise to avoid support of any entity that acts against the interests of any of the pact signatories. The most readily recognized example of the aforementioned entity is another country, nation-state, or sovereign organization that represents a negative consequence towards the advantages held by one or more of the signatory parties.^[2]

History[]

In the 19th century neutrality pacts have historically been used to give permission for one signatory of the pact to attack or attempt to negatively influence an entity not protected by the neutrality pact. The participants of the neutrality pact agree not to attempt to counteract an act of aggression waged by a pact signatory towards an entity not protected under the terms of the pact. Possible motivations for such acts by one or more of the pacts' signatories include a desire to take, or expand, control of economic resources, militarily important locations, etc.^[2]

The 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany is perhaps the best-known example of a non-aggression pact. The Pact lasted until the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.^[1] However, such pacts may be a device for neutralising a potential military threat, enabling at least one of the signatories to free up its military resources for other purposes. For example, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact freed German resources from the Russian front. On the other hand, the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, signed on April 13, 1941, removed the threat from Japan in the east enabling the Soviets to move large forces from Siberia to the fight against the Germans, which had a direct bearing on the Battle of Moscow.

The Alliance Treaty Obligations and Provisions (ATOP) dataset records 185 agreements that are solely non-aggression pacts between 1815 and 2018.^[3] According to this data, 29 such pacts were recorded in the interwar period with spikes in occurrences in 1960, 1970, 1979, and especially the early 1990s where a number of Eastern European states signed pacts following the fall of the Soviet Union.^[4]

States with a history of rivalry tend to sign non-aggression pacts in order to prevent future conflict with one another. The pacts often facilitate information exchange which reduce uncertainty that might lead to conflict. Additionally, the pact signals to third party nations that the rivalry has reduced and that peaceful relations is desired.^[4] It has been found that major powers are more likely to start military conflicts against their partners in non-aggression pacts than against states that do not have any sort of alliance with them.^[1]

List of non-aggression pacts[]

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List of non-aggression pacts

Signatories	Treaty	Date Signed
Kingdom of England  Kingdom of France  Holy Roman Empire  Papal States  Spain	Treaty of London	1518
Lithuania  Soviet Union	Soviet–Lithuanian Non-Aggression Pact	September 28, 1926
Greece  Romania	Greek–Romanian Non-Aggression and Arbitration Pact	March 21, 1928[5]
Afghanistan  Soviet Union		June 24, 1931[6]
Finland  Soviet Union	Soviet–Finnish Non-Aggression Pact	January 21, 1932
Latvia  Soviet Union		February 5, 1932[7]
Estonia  Soviet Union	Soviet–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact	May 4, 1932[8]
Poland  Soviet Union	Soviet–Polish Non-Aggression Pact	July 25, 1932[9]
France  Soviet Union	Soviet–French Non–Aggression Pact	November 29, 1932
Italy  Soviet Union	Italo-Soviet Pact	September 2, 1933[10]
Romania  Turkey		October 17, 1933[11]
Turkey  Kingdom of Yugoslavia		November 27, 1933[12]
Germany  Poland	German–Polish declaration of non-aggression	January 26, 1934[13]
France  Soviet Union	Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance	May 2, 1935
Republic of China  Soviet Union	Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact	August 21, 1937[14]
Afghanistan  Iran  Iraq  Turkey	Treaty of Saadabad	June 25, 1938
Czechoslovakia  Hungary  Romania  Kingdom of Yugoslavia	Hungarian–Little Entente agreement	August 22, 1938
France  Germany	The Franco-German Declaration	December 6, 1938[15][16]
Denmark  Germany	[de]	May 31, 1939[17]
Estonia  Germany	German–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact	June 7, 1939[18]
Germany  Latvia	German–Latvian Non-Aggression Pact	June 7, 1939[18]
Germany  Soviet Union	Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact	23 August 1939
Thailand  United Kingdom	British–Thai Non-Aggression Pact	June 12, 1940[19]
Hungary  Kingdom of Yugoslavia		December 12, 1940
Soviet Union  Kingdom of Yugoslavia	[ru]	April 6, 1941
Japan  Soviet Union	Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact	April 13, 1941
Germany  Turkey	German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship	June 18, 1941
South Africa  Mozambique	Nkomati Accord	March 13, 1984

Other usage[]

The term has colloquial usage outside the field of international relations. In the context of association football, the term can imply a deliberate lack of aggression between two teams, such as at the Disgrace of Gijón, which, in Germany, is known as the Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (lit. "Non-aggression pact of Gijón").^[20] A non-aggression pact can also be a formal agreement or gentlemen's agreement limiting transfers for players between two or more clubs.^[21][22]

See also[]

• Treaty of Friendship
• List of treaties
• Peace treaty

References[]