Peace treaty

The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the conclusion of World War I
The "Peace Memorial" about the Treaty of Nöteborg at the Orekhovy Island
Tablet of one of the earliest recorded treaties in history, Treaty of Kadesh, at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum
Peace-treaty of Zadar (1358), which ended the war between the Croato-Hungarian Kingdom and the Republic of Venice, forcing the latter to withdraw from Croatian coast

Agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties.

- Peace treaty
The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the conclusion of World War I

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A truce – not a compromise, since a chance for high-toned gentlemen to retire gracefully from their very civil declarations of war. By Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, February 17, 1877, p. 132.

Ceasefire

Temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions.

Temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions.

A truce – not a compromise, since a chance for high-toned gentlemen to retire gracefully from their very civil declarations of war. By Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, February 17, 1877, p. 132.
British and German officers after arranging the German handover of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and the surrounding area, negotiated during a temporary truce, April 1945

Ceasefires may be abused by parties as cover to re-arm or reposition forces, and they typically fail, when they are referred to as 'failed ceasefires'; however, successful ceasefires may be followed by armistices and then by peace treaties.

Delegates of both belligerent sides signing the Korean Armistice Agreement in Panmunjom, marking the beginning of the still-existing ceasefire between the two Koreas

Korean Armistice Agreement

Armistice that brought about a complete cessation of hostilities of the Korean War.

Armistice that brought about a complete cessation of hostilities of the Korean War.

Delegates of both belligerent sides signing the Korean Armistice Agreement in Panmunjom, marking the beginning of the still-existing ceasefire between the two Koreas
The site of negotiations in 1951
The English text of Korean Armistice Agreement. Harrison's signature in the lower left corner.
Colonel-level discussions between the US and North Korean militaries on 11 October 1951
The building where the armistice was signed, now housing the North Korea Peace Museum
The Demilitarized Zone compared to the earlier 38th parallel de facto border
Depiction of a banner during a 1989 student festival in Pyongyang, prior to calls from North Korea to leave the agreement.

No formal peace treaty was signed and normalized relations were not restored.

Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 1648

Armistice

Formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting.

Formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting.

Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 1648
The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918 was the occasion for large celebrations in the Allied nations.
Armistice of Cassibile between Italians and Anglo-Americans (1943)
Delegates sign the Korean Armistice Agreement

An armistice is a modus vivendi and is not the same as a peace treaty, which may take months or even years to agree on.

Clockwise from top:A column of the U.S. 1st Marine Division's infantry and armor moves through Chinese lines during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir UN landing at Incheon harbor, starting point of the Battle of Incheon Korean refugees in front of a U.S. M46 Patton tank U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, landing at Incheon F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft

Korean War

Fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953.

Fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953.

Clockwise from top:A column of the U.S. 1st Marine Division's infantry and armor moves through Chinese lines during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir UN landing at Incheon harbor, starting point of the Battle of Incheon Korean refugees in front of a U.S. M46 Patton tank U.S. Marines, led by First Lieutenant Baldomero Lopez, landing at Incheon F-86 Sabre fighter aircraft
Territory often changed hands early in the war, until the front stabilized.
Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans fled south in mid-1950 after the North Korean army invaded.
A U.S. howitzer position near the Kum River, 15 July
Man of the Year, the American soldier on Time magazine cover, 1951
G.I. comforting a grieving infantryman
M24 Chaffee light tanks of the US Army's 25th Infantry Division wait for an assault of North Korean T-34-85 tanks at Masan
Crew of an M-24 tank along the Nakdong River front, August 1950
Pershing and Sherman tanks of the 73rd Heavy Tank Battalion at the Pusan Docks, Korea.
General Douglas MacArthur, UN Command CiC (seated), observes the naval shelling of Incheon from USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7), 15 September 1950
Combat in the streets of Seoul
Pershing tanks in downtown Seoul during the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950. In the foreground, United Nations troops round up North Korean prisoners-of-war.
US Air Force attacking railroads south of Wonsan on the eastern coast of North Korea
Chinese forces cross the frozen Yalu River.
Three commanders of PVA during the Korean War. From left to right: Chen Geng (1952), Peng Dehuai (1950–1952) and Deng Hua (1952–1953)
Soldiers from the US 2nd Infantry Division in action near the Ch'ongch'on River, 20 November 1950
A column of the US 1st Marine Division move through Chinese lines during their breakout from the Chosin Reservoir.
Map of the UN retreat in the wake of Chinese intervention
B-26 Invaders bomb logistics depots in Wonsan, North Korea, 1951
US Marines move out over rugged mountain terrain while closing with North Korean forces.
British UN troops advance alongside a Centurion tank, March 1951
US M46 Patton tanks, painted with tiger heads thought to demoralize Chinese forces
New Zealand artillery crew in action, 1952
Men from the Royal Australian Regiment, June 1953
Delegates sign the Korean Armistice Agreement in P'anmunjŏm.
A U.S. Army officer confers with South Korean soldiers at Observation Post (OP) Ouellette, viewing northward, in April 2008
The DMZ as seen from the north, 2005
Korean War memorials are found in every UN Command Korean War participant country; this one is in Pretoria, South Africa.
A soldier of the Dutch detachment of the UN forces in North Korea prepares to return sniper fire, 1952
To disrupt North Korean communications, USS Missouri (BB-63) fires a salvo from its 16-inch guns at shore targets near Chongjin, North Korea, 21 October 1950
A B-29 Superfortress bomber dropping its bombs
A US Navy Sikorsky HO4S flying near USS Sicily (CVE-118)
Pyongyang in May 1951
A USAF Douglas B-26B Invader of the 452nd Bombardment Wing bombing a target in North Korea, 29 May 1951
Mark 4 bomb, seen on display, transferred to the 9th Bombardment Wing, Heavy
South Korean soldiers walk among the bodies of political prisoners executed near Daejon, July 1950
Civilians killed during a night battle near Yongsan, August 1950
A US Marine guards North Korean prisoners of war aboard an American warship in 1951.
Two Hill 303 survivors after being rescued by US units, 17 August 1950
Bob Hope entertained X Corps in Korea on 26 October 1950.
The Korean Peninsula at night, shown in a 2012 composite photograph from NASA
North Koreans touring the Museum of American War Atrocities in 2009

However, no peace treaty was ever signed, and the two Koreas are technically still at war, engaged in a frozen conflict.

Vietnam Peace Agreement

Paris Peace Accords

Vietnam Peace Agreement
The approximate areas of control at the time of the signing of the Accord. The South Vietnamese government controlled about 80 percent of the territory and 90 percent of the population, although many areas were contested.
Signing the peace accords
PAVN prisoners released, Thạch Hãn River, 24 February 1973
210 prisoners from the Bien Hoa POW Camp refuse repatriation and want to remain in South Vietnam sit with signs at Bien Hoa Air Base, 25 March

The Paris Peace Accords, (Hiệp định Paris về Việt Nam) officially titled the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam (Hiệp định về chấm dứt chiến tranh, lập lại hòa bình ở Việt Nam), was a peace treaty signed on January 27, 1973, to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War.

Kellogg–Briand Pact with signatures

Kellogg–Briand Pact

Kellogg–Briand Pact with signatures
Mockery of the Pact during the Paris Carnaval in 1929
French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand speaking
German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann signing
Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Mackenzie King signing

The Kellogg–Briand Pact or Pact of Paris – officially the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy – is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them".

The historic town hall of Münster where the treaty was signed

Peace of Westphalia

The historic town hall of Münster where the treaty was signed
Dutch envoy Adriaan Pauw enters Münster around 1646 for the peace negotiations
Sebastian Dadler undated medal (1648), Christina of Sweden, portrait with feathered helmet right. Obverse
The reverse of this medal: Christina of Sweden as Minerva holding an olive branch in her left arm and grasping the tree of knowledge with her right hand.
A map showing European borders in 1648
The Holy Roman Empire in 1648
Allegory of the Peace of Westphalia, by Jacob Jordaens.

The Peace of Westphalia (Westfälischer Friede, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster.

Moshe Dayan and Abdullah el Tell reach a ceasefire agreement during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War in Jerusalem on 30 November 1948

Conflict resolution

Conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution.

Conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution.

Moshe Dayan and Abdullah el Tell reach a ceasefire agreement during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War in Jerusalem on 30 November 1948
The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau (illustration from a Bible card published 1907 by the Providence Lithograph Company)

Wars can conclude with a peace agreement, which is a "formal agreement... which addresses the disputed incompatibility, either by settling all or part of it, or by clearly outlining a process for how [...] to regulate the incompatibility."

Cover of the English version

Treaty of Versailles

Cover of the English version
The heads of the "Big Four" nations at the Paris Peace Conference, 27 May 1919. From left to right: David Lloyd George, Vittorio Orlando, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George
German delegate Johannes Bell signing the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors, with various Allied delegations sitting and standing in front of him
German colonies (light blue) were made into League of Nations mandates.
Workmen decommissioning a heavy gun, to comply with the treaty
Location of the Rhineland (yellow)
A British news placard announcing the signing of the peace treaty
Senator Borah, Lodge and Johnson refuse Lady Peace a seat, referring to efforts by Republican isolationists to block ratification of Treaty of Versailles establishing the League of Nations
German delegates in Versailles: Professor Walther Schücking, Reichspostminister Johannes Giesberts, Justice Minister Otto Landsberg, Foreign Minister Ulrich Graf von Brockdorff-Rantzau, Prussian State President Robert Leinert, and financial advisor Carl Melchior
Demonstration against the treaty in front of the Reichstag
Medal issued by the Japanese authorities in 1919, commemorating the Treaty of Versailles. Obv: Flags of the five allies of World War I. Rev: Peace standing in Oriental attire with the Palace of Versailles in the background
A crowd awaits the plebiscite results in Oppeln
French soldiers in the Ruhr, which resulted in the American withdrawal from the Rhineland
Adolf Hitler announcing the Anschluß in violation of Art. 80 on the Heldenplatz, Vienna, 15 March 1938
John Maynard Keynes, the principal representative of the British Treasury, referred to the Treaty of Versailles as a "Carthaginian peace".
Commemorative medal issued in 1929 in the Republic of Weimar on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Treaty of Versailles. The obverse depicts George Clemenceau presenting a bound treaty, decorated with skull and crossbones to Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau. Other members of the Conference are standing behind Clemenceau, including Lloyd-George, Wilson and Orlando.
American political cartoon depicting the contemporary view of German reparations, 1921
Map of territorial changes in Europe after World War I (as of 1923)

The Treaty of Versailles (Traité de Versailles; Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I.

The Moroccan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship, sealed by Sultan Mohammed III.

Treaty

Formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law.

Formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law.

The Moroccan-American Treaty of Peace and Friendship, sealed by Sultan Mohammed III.
The signing of the Geneva Conventions in 1949. A country’s signature, through plenipotentiaries with "full power" to conclude a treaty, is often sufficient to manifest an intention to be bound by the treaty.
The International Court of Justice is often called upon to aid in the interpretation or implementation of treaties.
A treaty delegation of the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute indigenous tribes to Washington, D.C. (1858).

A treaty typically begins with a preamble describing the "High Contracting Parties" and their shared objectives in executing the treaty, as well as summarizing any underlying events (such as the aftermath of a war in the case of a peace treaty).