# Alliances and battle lines The pacts that drew the lines wars were later fought along: from the old dynastic alliances to NATO and the Warsaw Pact. *This story parallel: Making peace: the great settlements* *This story part of: Military and security* ## c. 493 BCE — Foedus Cassianum Alliance between the early Roman Republic and the Latin League that ended the Latin War and set terms for shared defense and division of spoils. It anchored Rome's position in Latium for over a century. ## 215 BCE — Macedonian-Carthaginian Treaty Secret alliance negotiated between Hannibal of Carthage and Philip V of Macedon against Rome during the Second Punic War. Roman forces captured envoys carrying the text, exposing the pact and triggering the First Macedonian War. ## 16 June 1373 — Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 Treaty of perpetual friendship and alliance between England and Portugal. It underpins the oldest alliance still in force between two states. ## 14 August 1385 — Union of Krewo Agreement under which Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania married Queen Jadwiga of Poland, converted to Christianity, and joined the two states under one crown. It began four centuries of Polish-Lithuanian union. ## 13 July 1397 — Kalmar Union Union letter joining the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden under a single monarch, Eric of Pomerania. The union dominated Scandinavia until Sweden left in 1523. ## 23 January 1579 — Union of Utrecht Alliance of the northern Netherlands provinces against Spanish rule, coordinating defense and finances. It functioned as a founding constitution of the Dutch Republic. ## 6 February 1778 — Treaty of Alliance (1778) Military alliance between France and the fledgling United States against Britain during the American Revolution. French intervention proved decisive for American independence. ## 26 September 1815 — Holy Alliance Pact among Russia, Austria, and Prussia framing post-Napoleonic order in Christian terms and defending monarchical rule. It became a symbol of conservative reaction in Europe. ## 8 July 1833 — Treaty of Hunkar Iskelesi Russo-Ottoman defensive alliance whose secret article obliged the Ottomans to close the Dardanelles to foreign warships at Russia's request. It alarmed Britain and France and fed the Eastern Question. ## 7 October 1879 — Dual Alliance Defensive alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary against Russian attack, with terms kept secret for years. It became the core of one of the two blocs that went to war in 1914. ## 30 January 1902 — Anglo-Japanese Alliance Alliance between Britain and Japan aimed at checking Russian expansion in East Asia. It was Britain's first peacetime alliance in decades and emboldened Japan before the Russo-Japanese War. ## 8 April 1904 — Entente Cordiale Agreements settling colonial disputes between Britain and France, notably trading British primacy in Egypt for French primacy in Morocco, with secret articles on Morocco's future. It began the alignment that became the Triple Entente. ## 31 August 1907 — Anglo-Russian Convention Agreement dividing Persia into spheres of influence and settling disputes over Afghanistan and Tibet. It completed the Triple Entente of Britain, France, and Russia. ## 1936 — Anti-Comintern Pact The Anti-Comintern Pact, a union of Germany and Japan against Communism and the Third International, was signed in November 1936 and joined by Italy a year later. > "This was a union of Germany and Japan against Communism and the Third International. It was signed in November 1936 and was joined by Italy a year later." > — Tragedy and Hope, p. 489-491 ## 25 November 1936 — Anti-Comintern Pact pact between Nazi Germany and Japan prior to World War II ## 22 May 1939 — Pact of Steel Full military and political alliance between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, committing each to join the other's wars. It bound Italy to Germany on the eve of the Second World War. ## 27 September 1940 — Tripartite Pact treaty establishing the Axis Powers of World War Two ## 14 August 1941 — Atlantic Charter Joint declaration by Roosevelt and Churchill setting out principles for the postwar world, including self-determination and freer trade. It became a founding reference for the United Nations. ## 4 April 1949 — Founding of NATO Twelve Western nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, creating a collective defense alliance in which an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all. ## 4 April 1949 — North Atlantic Treaty Founding treaty of NATO, binding North American and Western European states to treat an attack on one as an attack on all. It anchored Western defense through the Cold War and beyond. ## 14 February 1950 — Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance Alliance between the Soviet Union and the new People's Republic of China, providing Soviet aid and mutual defense against Japan or its allies. Its erosion within a decade signaled the Sino-Soviet split. ## 1 September 1951 — Founding of ANZUS Australia, New Zealand and the United States sign the ANZUS security treaty in San Francisco, binding the three Pacific allies in collective defense. ## 8 September 1954 — Founding of SEATO Eight nations sign the Manila Pact creating the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, a US-led anti-communist alliance for the region. It proved weak and was dissolved in 1977. ## 24 February 1955 — Founding of the Baghdad Pact (CENTO) Turkey and Iraq sign a mutual defense pact in Baghdad, soon joined by Britain, Pakistan and Iran, forming the anti-Soviet alliance later renamed the Central Treaty Organization. It dissolved in 1979. ## 14 May 1955 — Founding of the Warsaw Pact The Soviet Union and seven Eastern European states sign the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Warsaw, creating the Eastern bloc's military alliance in response to West Germany joining NATO. ## 14 May 1955 — Warsaw Pact Treaty of friendship and mutual defense binding the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites in a military alliance under Soviet command. It was NATO's counterpart until its dissolution in 1991. ## 1 July 1991 — Dissolution of the Warsaw Pact Member states sign a protocol in Prague formally dissolving the Warsaw Pact after the collapse of communist rule in Eastern Europe, ending the Cold War's military division of the continent. ## 7 October 2002 — Founding of the Collective Security Treaty Organization Six former Soviet states adopt a charter turning the 1992 Tashkent Collective Security Treaty into a permanent Russia-led military alliance, the CSTO. ## 15 September 2021 — AUKUS Trilateral security partnership among Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, centered on providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. Its announcement canceled a French submarine deal and angered Paris.