# Secret bargains: the hidden treaties Agreements concluded in secret, from Dover to the Molotov-Ribbentrop protocol. What states promise each other in private has repeatedly redrawn the public world. *This story parallel: Making peace: the great settlements* *This story part of: State, law, and coercion* ## 31 December 1584 — Treaty of Joinville Secret treaty between Philip II of Spain and the French Catholic League to exclude the Protestant Henry of Navarre from the French throne. It drew Spain directly into the French Wars of Religion. ## 1 June 1670 — Secret Treaty of Dover Secret treaty in which Charles II of England agreed with Louis XIV to join France against the Dutch and to announce his conversion to Catholicism in exchange for French money. A public cover treaty concealed the religious clause. ## 3 November 1762 — Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) Secret agreement in which France ceded Louisiana west of the Mississippi to Spain to compensate its ally for losses in the Seven Years' War. The transfer was concealed from Britain during peace negotiations. ## 1 October 1800 — Third Treaty of San Ildefonso Secret treaty in which Spain returned Louisiana to Napoleonic France in exchange for territories in Italy. Its secrecy alarmed the United States and set up the Louisiana Purchase. ## 27 October 1807 — Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807) Secret treaty between France and Spain to invade and partition Portugal, Britain's ally. The French troops it let into Spain soon seized the country itself, starting the Peninsular War. ## 3 January 1815 — Secret Treaty of Vienna Secret defensive alliance of Austria, Britain, and restored France against Russia and Prussia during the Congress of Vienna, sparked by the dispute over Saxony and Poland. It helped force a compromise when its existence leaked. ## 21 July 1858 — Plombieres Agreement Secret verbal pact between Napoleon III and Cavour of Piedmont-Sardinia to provoke war with Austria and drive it from Italy, with France gaining Savoy and Nice. It set the stage for Italian unification. ## 1 May 1865 — Treaty of the Triple Alliance Secret alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay against Paraguay in the War of the Triple Alliance, including terms for territorial gains. Its leak caused outrage across South America. ## 6 February 1873 — Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia-Peru) Secret defensive alliance between Peru and Bolivia. When Chile learned of it during the 1879 nitrate dispute, the pact helped turn a Bolivian-Chilean quarrel into the War of the Pacific. ## 20 May 1882 — Triple Alliance (1882) Secret alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy pledging mutual support in case of attack, renewed repeatedly until 1914. Italy's secret reservations meant it stayed neutral, then switched sides, in the First World War. ## 18 June 1887 — Reinsurance Treaty Secret treaty in which Germany and Russia promised neutrality if either fought a third power, with exceptions for attacks on France or Austria. Its non-renewal in 1890 pushed Russia toward France. ## 17 August 1892 — Franco-Russian Alliance Secret military convention between France and Russia promising mutual mobilization against the Triple Alliance, ratified in 1894. It ended France's isolation and created the alignment that faced Germany in 1914. ## 3 June 1896 — Li-Lobanov Treaty Secret Russo-Chinese alliance against Japan that granted Russia the right to build the Chinese Eastern Railway across Manchuria. It extended Russian influence deep into northeast China. ## 27 July 1905 — Taft-Katsura agreement Secretly recorded conversation between US Secretary of War Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura acknowledging Japan's dominance in Korea and American rule in the Philippines. It was not published until 1924. ## 18 March 1915 — Constantinople Agreement Secret wartime exchange among Britain, France, and Russia promising Russia control of Constantinople and the Turkish Straits after victory over the Ottomans. The Bolsheviks published it in 1917 and it was never carried out. ## 26 April 1915 — Treaty of London (1915) Secret treaty in which Italy agreed to enter the First World War on the Allied side in exchange for promised territories including South Tyrol and Dalmatia. Unmet promises fed Italian resentment after the war. ## 16 May 1916 — Sykes-Picot Agreement Britain and France secretly divide the Ottoman Middle East into spheres of influence, with Russian assent, contradicting promises made to Arab allies. Its publication by the Bolsheviks in 1917 caused lasting distrust in the region. ## April 1917 — Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Secret understanding among Britain, France, and Italy promising Italy a zone in southwestern Anatolia after the Ottoman defeat. The Allies later voided it, deepening Italian grievances at the peace conference. ## 2 November 1917 — Lansing-Ishii Agreement Exchange of notes in which the United States recognized Japan's special interests in China while both endorsed the Open Door, with a secret protocol against exploiting the war for special privileges. It papered over Pacific rivalry until its annulment in 1923. ## 8 December 1935 — Hoare-Laval Pact Secret Anglo-French plan to end the Abyssinian crisis by giving much of Ethiopia to Fascist Italy. Its leak caused public outrage, the fall of both ministers, and lasting damage to the League of Nations. ## 23 August 1939 — Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact with a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe between them. ## 28 September 1939 — German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty Treaty dividing conquered Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union after their September invasions, with secret protocols adjusting spheres of influence and pledging suppression of Polish resistance. It supplemented the earlier Nazi-Soviet pact. ## 19 August 1943 — Quebec Agreement Secret agreement between Britain and the United States to pool atomic bomb research, never to use the weapon against each other, and not to use it against others without mutual consent. It governed the Manhattan Project partnership. ## 9 October 1944 — Percentages agreement Secret understanding between Churchill and Stalin sketching proportional spheres of influence in southeastern Europe, scribbled on a slip of paper. It foreshadowed the Cold War division of the Balkans. ## 11 February 1945 — Yalta Far East Agreement Secret protocol of the Yalta Conference in which Roosevelt and Churchill promised Stalin territorial and railway concessions in East Asia in return for Soviet entry into the war against Japan. China was not consulted. ## 5 March 1946 — UKUSA Agreement Secret British-American agreement to share signals intelligence, later extended to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as the Five Eyes. Its existence was not officially acknowledged until decades later. ## 24 October 1956 — Protocol of Sevres Secret agreement among Britain, France, and Israel to stage an Israeli attack on Egypt as a pretext for Anglo-French seizure of the Suez Canal. The collusion, long denied, defined the Suez Crisis.