Process by which states attempt to settle their differences through peaceful means such as negotiation or arbitration. See foreign relations.
| 945 BC | Palestine, Arabia | Queen of Sheba's visit to King Solomon of Israel and Judah takes place about this time. Solomon begins to collect his vast harem of foreign women and attempts to please them with a proliferation of idolatries. |
| 378 BC–377 BC | Greece | The Greek city-state of Athens allies itself with the city of Thebes and forms a second Athenian Confederacy (the first being the Delian League, formed in 477 BC). Most of the other Boeotian cities and some of the Ionian islands join the confederacy. War breaks out between the Thebans and Spartans in Boeotia. |
| 20 BC | Roman Empire, Parthia, Armenia | The Roman emperor Augustus orders his stepson Tiberius to advance through Armenia and to meet him on the borders of Parthia. King Phraates IV of Parthia decides not to fight the Romans and negotiates instead. Augustus secures the recovery from the Parthians of the Roman standards lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC and those prisoners still alive. In Armenia, King Artaxes is murdered and Tiberius crowns Tigranes as a Roman client king. |
| 382 | Thrace, Roman Empire | The Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius I the Great, recognizing the impossibility of expelling the Goths from Thrace, concludes a treaty of alliance with the Visigoths and assigns them territory within the province in exchange for military service. |
| 442 | Western Roman Empire, Africa | The Western Roman emperor Valentinian III makes peace with Genseric, the king of the Vandals, recognizing his rule in Africa as independent. This marks the end of the Vandal migrations; they settle in Africa with Carthage as their capital. |
| 449 | Western Roman Empire, UK | Vortigern, a Welsh king whose authority extends as far east as Kent, invites the Saxons, under their leaders Hengist and Horsa, to settle in Kent, Britain, in order to help him in his struggle with the Picts and Scots. |
| 451 | Western Roman Empire, Gaul | Attila, king of the Huns, makes his grand attack on the Western Roman empire. His army is reputedly half a million strong, including the Franks and Ostrogoths. The Roman commander Aëtius, realizing that he cannot defeat the Huns alone, makes an alliance with the Visigoths under Theodoric in southwest Gaul. Although the outcome of the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields (Chalons, sometimes called the Battle of Troyes) is inconclusive, it proves to be a moral victory for the Romans and the Huns return home. |
| 476 | Roman Empire, Africa | The Roman emperor Zeno makes an agreement with the Vandal king Genseric, formally recognizing the Vandal kingdom as including the Roman province of Africa, the Balearic Isles, Pithecusae, Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily. Genseric gives Sicily, with the exception of the city of Lilybaeum, to Odoacer, the Germanic king of Italy, in return for tribute. |
| 7 July 1002 | Germany, Holy Roman Empire, Poland | Boleslaw Chrobry (the Brave) recognizes King Henry II of Germany as overlord and cedes his recent conquests, retaining Lusatia and Milsko. As Boleslaw leaves their meeting, an attempt is made to murder him, for which he blames Henry, so beginning a war. |
| 1052 | England, Normandy, France | Duke William I of Normandy visits the English king Edward the Confessor. It is possible that Edward, who is childless, promises to make William his heir. |
| 1054 | Byzantine Empire | The papal legate Cardinal Humbert excommunicates the patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, for obstructing an alliance between the Byzantine emperor and the Pope. Cerularius retaliates by excommunicating the cardinal and thus causes the final schism between the Eastern (Orthodox) church and the Western (Roman Catholic) Church. |
| 23 September 1122 | Holy Roman Empire, Germany | The ‘Investiture Contest’ (conflict between the papacy and the Empire over lay investiture of senior churchmen) finally ends with the Concordat at Worms, Germany, between Pope Calixtus II and Emperor Henry V of Germany. Henry agrees to end the practice of lay investiture but in practice is allowed to retain some influence over the election of bishops. |
| 17 June 1128 | England, Anjou, France | King Henry I of England's daughter Matilda, widow of the late emperor Henry V of Germany, marries Geoffrey Plantagenet, heir to the county of Anjou; she is recognized in England as her father's heir. |
| 8 August 1135 | Poland, Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire, Hungary | Emperor Lothair III makes peace between Poland and Bohemia, receiving homage from Boleslaw III, Duke of Poland; he also settles a dispute over the succession to the Hungarian crown. |
| 16 May 1152 | Anjou, Normandy, Aquitaine, France | Henry Plantagenet, Count of Anjou and Maine and Duke of Normandy, marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, gaining her lands in southern France – he now controls more of France than King Louis VII of France. |
| 10 October 1154 | Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Papal States | King Frederick I Barbarossa of Germany begins an expedition to Italy to restore royal authority there after the disorders of the ‘Investiture Contest’ (conflict between the papacy and the Empire over lay investiture of senior churchmen) and its aftermath. |
| 24 March 1160 | Papal States, Italy, Holy Roman Empire | Pope Alexander III excommunicates the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa for recognizing his rival Victor IV as pope. |
| 10 October 1176 | Holy Roman Empire, Italy | By the Treaty of Anagni, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa recognizes Alexander III as the legitimate pope, so ending the schism between the empire and the papacy. |
| 1181 | Pomerania, Holy Roman Empire, Poland | The Pomeranian princes of Stettin (modern Szczecin, Poland) become vassals of the Holy Roman Empire; thus western Pomerania, where Germans have settled, leaves the Polish sphere of influence. |
| 1187 | Byzantine Empire, Bulgaria | The Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelus makes a truce with the Bulgarian brothers Theodore and Asen, from the ruling line of the Second Bulgarian Empire, recognizing Bulgarian independence de facto; Theodore (now named Peter) is crowned as tsar, although Asen actually rules. |
| 1 January 1188 | England, France | King Henry II of England and King Philip II of France, meeting at Gisors, France, to discuss a truce, are persuaded to make peace and go on crusade; they impose ‘Saladin tithes’ to finance their expeditions. |
| 3 April 1189 | Holy Roman Empire | In the Peace of Strasbourg, Pope Clement III and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa resolve their differences over the appointment to the archbishopric of Trier in the Rhineland Palatinate. Both the papal and imperial candidates are dropped and a new election is held. |
| 3 February 1194 | England, Holy Roman Empire, France | King Richard I the Lionheart of England is released by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI in Mainz, in the Rhineland Palatinate, Germany; as he returns to England, he builds up an anti-French coalition in the Rhineland and Low Countries. His brother, the self-proclaimed King John of England, flees to the French court on hearing of his release. |
| 9 March 1325 | France, England | King Edward II of England sends his wife Isabella of France to negotiate for peace with King Charles IV of France. When in France, she becomes the mistress of Roger Mortimer, exiled lord of Wigmore. |
| 1 May 1355 | Genoa, Venice, Italy | Genoa and Venice make peace. |
| 1405 | China, Ming Empire, Southeast Asia | The Chinese emperor Yongle recognizes the Sumatran prince Paramesvara, the founder of the Sultanate of Malacca in Southeast Asia, as its king. The flow of Chinese seaborne trade with India and the Middle East through Malacca makes it the greatest trading centre in Southeast Asia by the 1430s. |
| 5 June 1409 | France, Italy | The Council of Pisa declares the deposition of Popes Benedict XIII of Avignon and Gregory XII of Rome. The latter holds a council at Cividale. |
| 12 June 1444 | Ottoman Empire, Albania | The Ottoman sultan Murad II makes a truce for ten years at Szeged, Bulgaria, with the crusaders, with the Albanian nationalist Skanderbeg, and with George Barnkovic, who is restored as despot of Serbia. |
| 2 February 1448 | Papal States, Italy, Germany, Holy Roman Empire | Envoys of Pope Nicholas V conclude the Concordat of Vienna with Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, and other German princes. In return for the right to exercise some papal powers in their territories, they abandon the General Council of Basel. |
| 17 October 1472 | Aragon, Spain | Barcelona, Catalonia, surrenders on compromise terms to King John II of Aragon. The secessionist revolt of Catalonia under its Generalitat (parliament) ends, and Catalonia and Aragon are united when they face King Louis XI of France in Roussillon, France. |
| September 1474 | England, Germany, Holy Roman Empire | King Edward IV of England ends six years of desultory naval war against the Hanseatic League with the Peace of Utrecht, and restores the League's trading privileges and English depots (steelyards) at London, Boston, and King's Lynn. |
| 24 January 1478 | France, Swiss Confederation, Holy Roman Empire | Mary of Burgundy and her husband Maximilian of Austria end the bitter legacy of her father's war with the Swiss and make peace at Zürich, Switzerland. |
| 22 September 1499 | Holy Roman Empire, Swiss Confederation | Having met defeat at Calven Gorge, and moreover seen his Swabian League allies decimated at Dornach in the Swiss Confederation, Maximilian I the Holy Roman Emperor concedes victory to the Swiss in the Swabian War, and grants them de facto independence from the Holy Roman Empire in the Peace of Basel. |
| 1603 | Swiss Confederation, France, Venice | An alliance is signed between King Henry IV of France, Venice, and the Swiss peasant republic of the Graubünden (Grisons or Grey League), which controls the Valtelline passes into Italy – a strategic link in the ‘Spanish Road’ between the Habsburg possessions in Italy, Austria, and the Netherlands. |
| August 1620 | France | Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (Cardinal Richelieu from 1622) negotiates peace in France between the rebellious nobles and the crown. Marie de' Medici, the queen mother, is reconciled to her son, King Louis XIII. Once the rebellion, led by the Duke of Mayenne, comes to an end, Louis XIII enters Béarn, which is reunited with the French crown. |
| 11 July 1635 | France, Parma, Savoy, Mantua, Italy, Spain, Milan | As a result of the diplomacy of France's chief minister Cardinal Richelieu, Parma, Savoy, and Mantua agree to join France in a league aimed at ousting Spain from its control of Milan. |
| 4 December 1644 | Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, United Netherlands, Sweden | A peace conference formally opens in the two towns of Münster and Osnabrück, aimed at securing an agreement between the opposing sides in the Thirty Years' War. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, initiates and opens negotiations, however, full discussions do not get under way until mid-1645. The negotiations ultimately lead to the Peace of Westphalia of 1648. |
| 13 July 1646 | UK | Parliamentary commissioners present King Charles I of Great Britain and Ireland with the Newcastle Propositions, asking for his acceptance of the Solemn League and Covenant (an alliance between the English parliament and the Scottish rebels, agreed in September 1643), the abolition of episcopacy, reformation of religion according to the wishes of Parliament and the Westminster Assembly of Divines, parliamentary control over the army for a period of 20 years, and punishment of leading Royalists. Charles does not reject the proposals immediately, but delays his answer until 1 August. |
| 15 August 1658 | Germany, France, Holy Roman Empire | The Protestant League of Hildesheim joins with the Catholic Rhine League to form the League of the Rhine, the first nondenominational grouping of states within Germany, aimed at securing a balance of power between France and the Holy Roman Empire. It is a triumph for French diplomacy after King Louis XIV had failed to be elected Holy Roman Emperor. |
| 3 May 1660 | France, Sweden, Poland, Denmark-Norway, Russia, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany | Assisted by French mediation, the Peace of Oliwa is signed. It ends the war between Sweden and the allied forces of Brandenburg, Poland, and Denmark. Under its terms, the Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William's sovereignty in East Prussia is recognized, King John II Casimir of Poland renounces his claim to the Swedish throne, Sweden retains Estonia and Livonia, and Sweden and Poland recognize Russian claims to Lithuania and Courland. |
| March 1673 | United Netherlands, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany, France | Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, breaks his alliance with the United Netherlands when, prompted partly by the fact that Dutch subsidy payments have fallen into arrears, he makes a preliminary peace with King Louis XIV of France. |
| 8 November 1685 | France, Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany | A breakdown of the Franco-Brandenburg alliance occurs when, in response to King Louis XIV of France's revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, issues the Edict of Potsdam, offering refuge to Huguenots in his dominions. Subsequently the Great Elector pursues an anti-French foreign policy. |
| 1 April 1686 | Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, Brandenburg, Germany | An alliance between the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, is signed. By its terms, Brandenburg promises to support Habsburg claims in Spain and to provide assistance against French aggression. In return for the territory of Schwiebus, Brandenburg also renounces her claims to Silesia. |
| 30 September 1688 | UK, United Netherlands | The Dutch stadtholder William of Orange accepts the Whig lords' invitation to intervene in British affairs. He issues a manifesto denouncing evil counsellors, who he claimed had subjected the country to arbitrary government, and calling for a free Parliament. |
| 19 December 1689 | UK, United Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire | Britain accedes to the Grand Alliance, joining the Dutch and the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in a coalition against France. |
| 6 June 1690 | Spain, Holy Roman Empire, United Netherlands, UK | Spain joins the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, the United Netherlands, and Britain in the Grand Alliance against France. |
| February 1733 | Poland | On the death of Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland (Frederick Augustus I, Elector of Saxony), Austria and Russia, abandoning the Treaty of Loewenwolde, agree to recognize his son, Frederick Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, as King Augustus III of Poland. Prussia, ignored in these agreements, allows Stanislaw Leszczynski, the popular deposed king of Poland, to pass through Prussia to Poland. |
| 3 January 1739 | Spain, UK, South America | The Convention of the Pardo attempts to settle Anglo-Spanish disputes over the asiento (monopoly) trade with South America and maritime quarrels: Spain agrees to pay certain damages but refuses to give up its right to search British vessels for smuggled goods and also demands unpaid royalties from the English South Sea Company. The British representative at the Convention agrees to recall the fleet from Spanish waters but subsequently this order is revoked, causing consternation in Spain. |
| 5 May 1744 | Prussia, Bavaria, Germany, Palatinate, Austria, Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy | The Union of Frankfurt is agreed between King Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII (Charles Albert of Bavaria), the Elector Palatine, and the Landgrave of Hesse, to force Maria Theresa of Austria to restore Bavaria, make peace, and restore the constitution of the Holy Roman Empire. |
| October 1768 | Ottoman Empire, Russia | The Ottoman Empire, prompted by France, declares war on Russia to counter its increasing influence in Poland. |
| 23 July 1785 | Prussia, Bavaria, Habsburg Monarchy | Frederick II the Great of Prussia forms the Fürstenbund (League of Princes) to oppose Habsburg monarch Joseph II's Bavarian exchange scheme and preserve the status quo among German states. |
| 2 December 1823 | USA, Europe, South America | The ‘Monroe Doctrine’ is announced by the US president James Monroe. It excludes European powers from interfering in the politics of any of the American republics and closes the entire American continent to colonial settlements by them. |
| April 1824 | USA, Russian Empire, North America | The USA and Russia settle the controversy over the northernmost coast of North America. Russia is granted the territory north of latitude 54° 40', in exchange for Russia's lifting of a fishing ban off its North American territorial waters. |
| 28 November 1850 | Austrian Empire, Prussia, Germany | As a result of Russian mediation, Felix, Prince zu Schwarzenberg, of Austria and Otto von Manteuffel of Prussia sign the Punctation of Olmütz, by which Prussia subordinates itself to Austria and recognizes the Frankfurt diet (assembly) of the German Confederation. |
| 8 August 1854 | UK, Austrian Empire, France, Russian Empire, Serbia | The ‘Four Points’ issued by Britain, Austria, and France from the Austrian capital, Vienna, state their conditions of peace with Russia to be Russia's abandonment of its claim to a protectorate over the Ottoman sultan's Christian subjects, revision of the Straits settlement in the interests of European powers, free passage of the mouth of the River Danube, and a guarantee of the integrity of the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, and of Serbia. |
| 11 July 1859 | France, Austrian Empire, Parma, Lombardy, Tuscany, Modena, Venice, Sardinia-Piedmont, Italy | The preliminary Peace of Villafranca temporarily ends the conflict between France and Austria. Austria is to cede the Italian states of Parma and Lombardy to France, for subsequent cession to Sardinia-Piedmont; Tuscany and Modena are to be restored to their pre-revolutionary rulers, and Venice is to remain Austrian. The treaty causes the Piedmontese prime minister Count Camillo Benso di Cavour to resign in disgust. |
| 8 February 1863 | Prussia, Russian Empire, Poland | Prussia allies with Russia to suppress the Polish revolt through a convention drawn up by Gustav, Count von Alvensleben, chief advisor to the Prussian king Wilhelm I (the ‘Alvensleben Convention’). |
| 13 October 1880 | Transvaal, UK | The Transvaal declares itself independent from Britain in opposition to Britain's annexation of the Boer Transvaal Republic in 1877. |
| 5 April 1886 | Ottoman Empire | Abdul Hamid II, the Ottoman sultan, appoints Alexander of Bulgaria governor of Eastern Rumelia in a compromise that keeps the area under Ottoman sovereignty but places it under Bulgarian rule. |
| January 1893 | France, Russian Empire | A Franco-Russian alliance is signed, formalizing the entente established between the two countries in August 1891. |
| 3 January 1896 | Germany, Transvaal | Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany sends the ‘Kruger telegram’ congratulating the Transvaal leader on suppressing the ‘Jameson raid’, and provokes a crisis in Anglo-German relations. |
| May 1902 | USA | Cuba gains independence from the USA. |
| 31 March 1905 | Morocco, Germany, France | The visit of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany to Tangier, Morocco, sets off the ‘First Moroccan Crisis’, being seen as a test of the British–French convention of 1904 which arranged for French predominance in Morocco. |
| 8 April 1906 | Morocco | The Act of Algeciras is signed, ending the Moroccan crisis. It gives France and Spain chief control in Morocco under a Swiss inspector, and respects the sultan's authority. |
| 31 August 1907 | United Kingdom, Russian Empire | Britain and Russia sign a convention on Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet, establishing zones of influence and removing obstacles towards an alignment of Russia with Britain and France against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). |
| 16 September 1908 | Austria-Hungary, Russian Empire | The foreign ministers of Austria and Russia, Count Alois Aehrenthal and Alexander Izvolsky, hold the Buchlau conference. Austria undertakes not to oppose the opening of the Dardanelles to Russian warships and Russia agrees to Austria's proposed annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
| 27 October 1908 | United Kingdom, Germany | The British Daily Telegraph publishes remarks by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in which he states that the German people are hostile to Britain, though he remains a friend. The statement arouses strong feelings in Germany against Britain, and also against the Kaiser for making policy pronouncements without consulting the German chancellor. |
| 1 July 1911 | Morocco, Germany | The German gunboat Panther arrives in Agadir, Morocco, allegedly to protect German interests threatened by French involvement in Morocco, and sparks an international crisis. |
| 4 November 1911 | Morocco, Germany, France | A convention ends the ‘Agadir crisis’ in Morocco, when Germany allows France a free hand in Morocco in return for territory in the Congo. |
| 5 November 1911 | Italy, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire | Italy annexes Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Libya from the Ottoman Empire. |
| 6 July 1914 | Germany, Austria-Hungary | Germany issues the ‘blank cheque’, promising support to Austria-Hungary in any action it chooses to take against Serbia over the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. |
| 23 July 1914 | Austria-Hungary, Serbia | Austria-Hungary, suspecting Serbian involvement in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, issues an ultimatum to Serbia, which contains deliberately unreasonable demands. |
| 8 November 1918 | Germany, France | A German armistice commission meets the Allied delegation, headed by the French marshal Ferdinand Foch, in a railway carriage in Compiègne, France. An armistice is agreed, to be effective from 11 November. |
| 7 May 1919 | Germany | At the Paris Peace Conference in France, the Allies present their terms to Germany without giving opportunity for negotiation. The Rhineland is to be demilitarized and semi-occupied for between 5 and 15 years, reparations are to be paid, limits will be placed on the size of Germany's armed forces, and it is to accept a ‘war guilt’ clause acknowledging responsibility for starting the European War. Germany's colonies are also disposed of, assigning German East Africa to Britain as a mandated territory of the League of Nations, and German South West Africa as a mandate under the administration of South Africa. |
| 28 July 1920 | Czechoslovakia, Poland, France | The Teschen Agreement, which divides the territory disputed between Czechoslovakia and Poland, is signed in Paris, France. |
| 14 August 1920 | Kingdom of the Serbs Croats and Slovenes, Czechoslovakia, Romania | The Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes and Czechoslovakia make an alliance (and are joined in 1921 by Romania) to form the ‘Little Entente’, a defensive measure against Hungarian revanchism (a policy aimed at regaining lost territories). |
| 20 June 1931 | UK, USA | US president Herbert Hoover proposes a moratorium on World War I reparations payments and inter-Allied debts in response to the worldwide economic depression; a London protocol is drawn up to formalize the moratorium. |
| 2 February 1932 | Europe, USA, USSR, Japan | Sixty nations, including the USA and the USSR, attend the Geneva Disarmament Conference, at which a French proposal for an armed force under international control is opposed by Germany. |
| 2 October 1932 | China, Japan | The Lytton Commission, set up by the League of Nations to investigate Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria, China, recognizes Japan's special transport and economic interests in the region and recommends an autonomous state under Chinese sovereignty but Japanese control. |
| 16–17 March 1934 | Italy, Austria, Hungary | Protocols are signed in Rome between Italy, Austria, and Hungary to form a Danubian bloc against the Little Entente (Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia). |
| 16 March 1935 | Germany | Germany repudiates the disarmament clauses of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and the Führer Adolf Hitler reintroduces general military conscription. |
| 11–14 April 1935 | Italy, France, UK, Germany | The prime ministers of Italy, France, and Britain, conferring in Stresa, Italy, protest against German rearmament and agree to act jointly against Germany, forming what becomes known as the Stresa Front. |
| 18 June 1935 | UK, Germany | Britain and Germany make an agreement by which Germany undertakes that its navy will not exceed a third of the tonnage of Britain's Royal Navy. Britain's independent negotiation of the agreement fatally undermines the unity of the Stresa Front (formed in April 1935). |
| 9 December 1935 | UK, France, Ethiopia, Italy | Britain's foreign minister, Sir Samuel Hoare, signs an agreement with the French prime minister, Pierre Laval, for the partitioning of Ethiopian territory between Ethiopia and Italy. The Hoare–Laval Plan is denounced in both countries, and is disowned by the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin. |
| 26 August 1936 | UK, Egypt | Britain signs a treaty with Egypt recognizing the latter's sovereignty and independence and pledging mutual defence and a 20-year alliance. |
| 30 September 1938 | Germany, Czechoslovakia, UK, France, Italy | The Munich Agreement is signed in Munich, Germany, by the British prime minister, the French prime minister, the German Führer, and the Italian prime minister. It permits Germany to annex the Sudetenland in western Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain returns to London, England, speaking of ‘peace with honour’ and ‘peace in our time’. |
| 31 March 1939 | UK, France, Poland | Britain and France pledge to support Poland in any attack on Polish independence. On 6 April a pact is signed by all three governments confirming the pledge. |
| 10 October 1939 | USSR, Lithuania | The USSR signs a pact with Lithuania allowing Soviet troops to be stationed on Lithuanian territory (and in effect reducing the Baltic state to a Soviet colony). The city of Vilna (now Vilnius), formerly in Poland but taken by the USSR on 28 September, is returned to Lithuania. |
| 26–28 June 1940 | USSR, Romania, Germany | The USSR demands Bessarabia and Bukovina from Romania. Romania requests German support for rejection of the demand, but the German Führer refuses. Romania cedes the territories on 27 June and they are occupied by Soviet troops on 28 June. |
| 8 December 1941 | USA, UK, Japan | The USA and Britain declare war on Japan, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the previous day. |
| 28 November–1 December 1943 | Iran, USA, UK, USSR | At the Tehran Conference in Iran, President Franklin D Roosevelt of the USA and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain outline to the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, the plan for an invasion of German-occupied France in 1944. |
| 1–22 July 1944 | USA, Germany, Japan | The Bretton Woods Conference in New Hampshire draws up financial plans for the post-war world after the expected defeat of Germany and Japan. |
| 21 August–7 October 1944 | USA, China, USSR, UK | At the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington, DC, China, the USSR, the USA, and Britain draw up proposals for a new world organization, the future United Nations (UN). |
| 4–11 February 1945 | USSR, USA, UK, Germany | At the Yalta Conference in the Crimea, USSR, the US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, and the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, plan for the division of post-war Germany into four occupied zones, with four zones in Berlin, the capital. |
| 17 July–2 August 1945 | Germany, USSR, USA, UK | At the Potsdam Conference in Germany, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, the US president Harry S Truman, and the British prime minister (first Winston Churchill, then Clement Attlee after the Labour election victory of 26 July) organize the occupation of Germany following its surrender in World War II. |
| 12 March 1947 | USA, Greece, Turkey, USSR | The US president Harry S Truman announces a plan (the Truman Doctrine) to give aid to Greece, which is threatened by communist insurrection, and to Turkey, which is under pressure from Soviet expansion. |
| 5 June 1947 | USA, Europe | The US secretary of state, General George C Marshall, calls for a European Recovery Programme (the Marshall Plan) funded by the USA, to forestall the emergence of communist governments throughout the continent. |
| 8 December 1949 | China | Chinese Nationalists, driven by communist military forces from the mainland, declare Taipei on the island of Formosa (Taiwan) to be the capital of the Republic of China. |
| 9 May 1950 | France, West Germany | The Schuman Plan is announced in France for the creation of a single authority to control the production of steel and coal in France and West Germany, with membership then opened to other countries. |
| 28 November 1950 | Poland, East Germany | Poland and East Germany proclaim the Oder–Neisse line as the frontier between the two countries, giving Poland territorial gains in the west to compensate for territory lost to the USSR at the end of World War II. |
| 20 July 1954 | North Vietnam, South Vietnam, France, Switzerland | An armistice ending the fighting in Indochina is signed in Geneva, Switzerland. Under the terms of the agreement France is to evacuate North Vietnam, while the communists are to evacuate South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. France also undertakes to respect the independence of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, and the communist leader Ho Chi Minh is to form a government in North Vietnam. |
| 19 October 1954 | Egypt, UK | Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, prime minister of Egypt, signs a British–Egyptian agreement which terminates the treaty of alliance of 1936. British troops are to withdraw from the Suez Canal zone, but Britain reserves the right to intervene if the canal is threatened. The agreement comes into force from 6 December. |
| 26 July 1956 | France, Egypt, UK, USA | The Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser announces the nationalization of the Suez Canal (owned partly by France and Britain) after the USA and Britain announce they will not help fund the Aswan Dam project. On 31 July Britain, France, and the USA retaliate with financial measures. |
| 30 October 1956 | Hungary, USSR | The Hungarian prime minister Imre Nagy promises free elections in Hungary, and Cardinal Mindszenty is released following eight years of captivity. The USSR responds by sending Soviet and satellite state troops to invade Hungary. |
| 7 November 1956 | Egypt, UK, France | Britain and France accept a ceasefire in the Suez Crisis in Egypt, but Britain declares it will evacuate its troops only on the arrival of the United Nations (UN) emergency force. |
| 25 March 1957 | Europe | Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (the ‘Six’) sign the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) or ‘Common Market’, and a second Rome Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Authority or ‘Euratom’ (to take effect from 1 January 1958). |
| 24 October 1958 | France, Algeria | The French prime minister Charles de Gaulle says he is willing to discuss a ceasefire with nationalist rebels in Algeria, but his proposal is rejected by the Algerian Provisional Government on 25 October. |
| 4 April–30 May 1959 | French West Africa | The autonomous French West Africa colonies of Ivory Coast, Niger, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and Dahomey (now Benin) sign a series of agreements to form the Sahel–Benin Union. |
| 6 January–5 February 1960 | UK, Africa | The British prime minister Harold Macmillan visits Ghana, Nigeria, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and South Africa and, on 3 February, speaking in Cape Town to the South African parliament, he declares: ‘The wind of change is blowing through this continent..... and our national policies must take account of it.’ |
| 18 March 1962 | Algeria, France | Following secret discussions (completed at Evian-les-Bains, France), the French government and the Provisional Government of Algeria make the ‘Evian agreements’, under which a provisional Muslim–French government is to be installed in Algeria and a referendum is to be held on self-determination. |
| 12 May 1962 | Laos | Negotiations are held in Laos between the leaders of the three warring parties, who reach agreement. A Provisional Government of National Unity is established on 22 May, with Prince Souvanna Phouma as president. |
| 22 October 1962 | USA, USSR, Cuba | The Cuban Missile Crisis begins. The US president John F Kennedy announces that the USSR has installed a missile base in Cuba, and declares a naval blockade to prevent missile shipments. |
| 28 October 1962 | USA, USSR, Cuba | The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he has ordered the withdrawal of nuclear missiles from Cuba, and the US president John F Kennedy promises the USA will not invade Cuba, ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. |
| 11 November 1965 | Rhodesia, UK | The Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith makes a Unilateral Declaration of Independence. Britain declares the regime illegal and introduces exchange and trade restrictions. |
| 1 July 1966 | France | France withdraws its forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) following a dispute over US involvement in Europe's defence. |
| 16 May 1967 | France, UK | The French president Charles de Gaulle, in a press conference, virtually vetoes British entry into the European Economic Community (EEC). |
| 14 November 1969 | USA, USSR | The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the USA and USSR begin in Helsinki, Finland. |
| 19 March 1970 | East Germany, West Germany | The first meeting of East and West German heads of government takes place at Erfurt, East Germany. On 21 May, East German leader Willi Stoph and West German leader Willy Brandt meet again at Kassel, West Germany. |
| 5 June 1970 | France, USA | France ends its 15-month boycott of the Western European Union (begun following a still-unresolved dispute over cooperation with the USA in European defence policy). |
| 17 April 1971 | Egypt, Syria, Libya | Egypt, Syria, and Libya sign the Benghazi Agreement to establish the Federation of Arab Republics that, based on democratic socialism, creates a joint defence policy and pursues a hard-line attitude towards Israel. |
| 10 June 1971 | USA, China | The USA ends its 21-year embargo on trade with China, which had been imposed by US president Harry S Truman during the Cold War. |
| 26 March 1972 | Malta, UK | Britain and NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) agree to pay Malta £14 million a year for the use of its military bases. |
| 22–30 May 1972 | USSR, USA | Richard Nixon becomes the first US president to visit the USSR. On 26 May he signs a treaty limiting antiballistic missile sites. |
| 24 November 1972 | Finland, East Germany | Finland formally recognizes East Germany as a separate country, the first Western nation to do so. |
| 15 October 1973 | UK, Iceland | Britain and Iceland end the ‘Cod War’ with an agreement on fishing rights. |
| 21–22 October 1973 | USSR, USA, Egypt, Israel | The US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Leonid Brezhnev meeting in Moscow, agree a plan to stop the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East. Egypt and Israel accept a United Nations (UN) ceasefire on 22 October, but fighting continues. |
| 22 February 1974 | Pakistan, Bangladesh | Pakistan recognizes Bangladesh as an independent nation at the start of the Islamic summit conference in Lahore, Pakistan. |
| 31 May 1974 | Syria, Israel, USA | The US secretary of state Henry Kissinger secures an agreement between Syria and Israel to disengage forces on the Golan Heights. |
| 14 November 1975 | Morocco, Mauritania, Spain | Spain agrees with Morocco and Mauritania to pull out of the Sahara by February 1976 and to organize consultations about the region's future. |
| 16 April 1976 | India, Pakistan | India and Pakistan normalize diplomatic relations for the first time since the 1971 war over the independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. |
| 1 June 1976 | Iceland, UK | The ‘Cod War’ between Iceland and Britain ends after mediation by Norway, and a 200-mile fishing limit is agreed. |
| 15 December 1978 | USA, China | The USA and China normalize diplomatic relations with effect from 1 January 1979. |
| 15–18 June 1979 | Austria, USA, USSR | A summit meeting in Vienna, Austria, between the US and Soviet presidents Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev ends with the signing of the SALT II treaty limiting nuclear weapons between the two countries. |
| 7 April 1980 | USA, Iran | The USA bans trade with Iran, breaks off relations, and expels Iranian diplomats in the face of the continuing hostage crisis. |
| 20 January 1981 | Iran | Iran releases all 52 US hostages, held since November 4, 1979, after an agreement is signed in Algiers releasing Iranian financial assets in the USA. |
| 6 November 1981 | UK | The British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Garret FitzGerald agree to establish an Anglo-Irish intergovernmental Council. Protest strikes break out in Northern Ireland on November 23. |
| 8 January 1982 | Spain | Spain agrees to end its 12-year blockade of the British Crown colony Gibraltar, but the frontier is not opened until December 15. |
| 16 January 1982 | UK | Britain and the Vatican resume full diplomatic relations after a break of over 400 years. |
| 17 April 1982 | Canada | Repatriation of the Canadian constitution (its removal from British law to place it entirely under Canadian control) breaks Canada's last link with the British government. |
| 19 August 1982 | Lebanon | The Israeli cabinet accepts a US plan to evacuate Palestine Liberation Organization guerrillas and Syrian troops from Beirut. The first convoys of guerrillas leave for Cyprus on 21 August, and Yassir Arafat leaves for Tunisia on August 30. |
| 16 November 1982 | USSR | Sino-Soviet talks open in Moscow, the first since 1969. |
| 23 November 1983 | USSR | The USSR delegation walks out of the arms limitation talks in Geneva following the deployment of US missiles in Europe. The next day, President Yuri Andropov announces that the USSR will increase the number of its submarine missiles targeted at the USA. |
| 26 September 1984 | Hong Kong | A draft agreement for the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 is signed by British and Chinese representatives at a ceremony in Beijing. |
| 15 December 1984 | USSR, UK | The Soviet Politburo member Mikhail Gorbachev visits London, England, and states that the USSR is willing to negotiate large reductions in nuclear weapons. The British prime minister Margaret Thatcher declares ‘I like Mr Gorbachev. We can do business together.’ |
| 10 September 1985 | Europe, South Africa | European Community foreign ministers approve sanctions against South Africa, although Britain delays a decision until 25 September. |
| 15 November 1985 | Northern Ireland | The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle, giving the Irish Republic a consultative role in the affairs of Northern Ireland. The British treasury minister Ian Gow resigns in protest. |
| 7–10 December 1987 | USA, USSR | At a US–Soviet summit in Washington, DC, US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev agree to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces. |
| 3 April 1988 | North Africa | A peace agreement between Ethiopia and Somalia ends 11 years of border conflict. |
| 3 October 1988 | Chad, Libya | Chad and Libya end their long-running war and establish diplomatic relations. |
| 2 December 1989 | USA, USSR | The US president George Bush and the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev formally declare the Cold War to be at an end. |
| 22 May 1990 | North Yemen, South Yemen,Yemen | The traditionally antagonistic North and South Yemen merge to form the Yemen Republic. |
| 10 September 1990 | Cambodia | Political and military groups in Cambodia, including the pro-Vietnamese government and the Khmer Rouge, agree on a peace formula to end the country's civil war. |
| 10 April 1998 | Northern Ireland | Ireland, Britain, and the political parties in Northern Ireland reach a peace agreement over Northern Ireland involving the devolution of a wide range of executive and legislative powers to a Northern Ireland Assembly. |
| 8 September 1998 | UK | Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and Ulster first minister David Trimble hold talks in Northern Ireland, the first meeting between a Sinn Fein leader and an Ulster Unionist leader since 1922. |
| 14 December 1998 | USA | US president Bill Clinton, on a peace mission to the Middle East, is the first US president to visit a Palestinian territory when he meets Palestinian Liberation Organization head Yasser Arafat on the Gaza Strip. In a show of hands the Palestinian National Council affirms its renunciation of violence against Israel. |
| 14 July 1999 | UK, Northern Ireland | The Ulster Unionist Party rejects a peace plan proposed by British prime minister Tony Blair and Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern and refuses to attend the meeting scheduled for the following day to set up a new cabinet in Northern Ireland. The party's refusal to attend the meeting blocks the formation of the cabinet. |
| 27 April 2000 | UK | Talks in London, England, between officials from Zimbabwe and British foreign secretary Robin Cook aimed at restoring peace in Zimbabwe end in a deadlock after the Zimbabwean delegation refuse to make a commitment to end the violence. |
| 13 June 2000 | North Korea, South Korea | North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean leader Kim Dae Jung meet for the first time at a peace summit in Pyongyang, North Korea. It is the first time that leaders of the two countries have met in 55 years. |
| 25 November 2002 | Iraq | United Nations (UN) arms inspectors return to Iraq after a four-year absence to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction that the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is suspected of developing. The return of the inspectors, led by Swedish diplomat Hans Blix, follows earlier unanimous UN Security Council support for a resolution demanding full Iraqi compliance. |
| February 2003 | Iraq | Divisions emerge within the European Union (EU) and NATO over policy towards the disarmament of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. France and Germany reject the UK's and other countries' support for US-led military action against Iraq which would pre-empt ongoing United Nations (UN) investigations into Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, mass anti-war demonstrations are staged around the world. At the end of February the USA and UK table a new draft UN resolution to pave the way for an assault on Iraq. Other Security Council members, including Russia and China, remain unconvinced of the need for military action. |
| 2 February 2004 | Israel, Palestine | In the Middle East, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon announces that he will remove all Jewish settlements in Gaza as part of his plan to disengage unilaterally from territories occupied since 1967, leaving a rump self-governing Palestinian state behind Israel's controversial West Bank security wall. |
| January 2006 | Iran | After over two years of inconclusive negotiations with Western countries over its controversial nuclear development programme, Iran announces that it is resuming its uranium enrichment activities. At the end of the month the USA, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany agree to report Iran's actions to the United Nations Security Council, triggering the threat of international sanctions. |
| 11–28 April 2006 | Iran | Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that his country has successfully enriched uranium in defiance of the United Nations Security Council's demands that Iran stop its suspected drive to acquire nuclear weapon technology. Later in the month, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms Iran's failure to comply with a 30-day deadline set in March to give up its enrichment programme. |
| 31 August 2006 | Iran | Iran defies a United Nations Security Council ultimatum that it suspend uranium enrichment by the end of August to allay fears that it trying to develop nuclear weapons or face the possibility of punitive sanctions. |
| 23 December 2006 | Iran | The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution authorising sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend its uranium enrichment programme which has heightened international fears about the country's nuclear weapon ambitions. |
| 23–31 March 2007 | Iran Iraq | A serious dispute erupts between the UK and Iran as 15 British sailors and marines conducting routine anti-smuggling patrols around the Iraqi coast are seized by the Iranian navy for allegedly straying into Iranian territorial waters in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway. The British government denounces Iran's claims and its refusal to release the captives. |
| 28–29 May 2007 | Iraq | The USA and Iran have their first formal contact in nearly three decades as senior officials meet in Baghdad to discuss ways to stabilize Iraq which remains in the grip of sectarian and insurgent violence. |
