Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of SerbiaSUMMARY
Five years after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Russia and Japan
signed an agreement carving out spheres of influence in Manchuria
and legitimizing Japanese occupation of Korea. The United States,
hoping to win another agreement with Japan following the conclusion
of the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, had been effectively left out of
the security equation in the region, and the Japanese gained a foothold
for what eventually became more than the simple occupation of
Manchuria but the invasion of China at the outset of World War II.
The Russo-Japanese agreement lasted only until 1916, but the legiti-
macy it conferred on Japanese rights in northern China lasted until
the end of the Second World War, when the United States and the
Soviet Union competed to fill the void created by Japan’s surrender.
Alliance Text
The Imperial Government of Russia and the Imperial Govern-
ment of Japan, sincerely attached to the principles established
by the convention concluded between them July 17/30, 1907,
and desiring to develop the results of that convention with a
view to the consolidation of peace in the Far East, have agreed
to complete the said arrangement by the following agreements:
Art. I.—For the purpose of facilitating the communications
and developing the commerce of the nations, the two High
Contracting Parties engage mutually to lend each other their
friendly cooperation with a view to the improvement of their
respective lines of railroad in Manchuria, and to the perfecting
of the connecting service of the said railways, and to refrain
from all competition unfavorable to the attainment of this
result.
Art. II.—Each of the High Contracting Parties engages to
maintain and to respect the status quoin Manchuria as it results
from all the treaties, conventions or other arrangements hith-
erto concluded, either between Russia and Japan or between
these two Powers and China. Copies of the aforesaid arrange-
ments have been exchanged between Russia and Japan.
Art. III.—In case any event of such a nature as to menace the
above-mentioned status quoshould be brought about, the two
High Contracting Parties will in each instance enter into com-
munication with each other, for the purpose of agreeing upon
the measures that they may judge it necessary to take for the
maintenance of the said status quo.
In faith of which the undersigned, duly authorized by their
respective Governments, have signed this convention and set
their seals thereto.
Done at St. Petersburg, June 21 (July 4), 1910, corresponding
to the 4th day of the 7th month of the forty-third year of Meiji.
(Signed) (L.S) ISWOLSKY
(Signed) (L.S.) MOTONO
4.1216 Treaty of Friendship and Alliance
between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the
Kingdom of Serbia
Alliance Members:Bulgaria and Serbia
Signed On:February 29, 1912, in the city of Sofia (Bulgaria). In force
until June 30, 1913, upon the outbreak of the Second Balkan War
between Serbia and Bulgaria.
Alliance Type:Defense Pact (Type I)
Source:The Aspirations of Bulgaria,p. 96–101.SUMMARY
As Austrian and Turkish competition for control of the Balkans inten-
sified through the spring and summer of 1912, Bulgaria and Serbia,
followed by Montenegro and Greece, signed a defensive alliance. Its
terms included agreement to assist Bulgaria against a Romanian attack
and Serbia against an Austrian one, although the alliance expanded to
include the additional signatories as they joined during the summer.
The allies would fight together in the First Balkan War, set off by a
Montenegrin attack on Ottoman positions, a subsequent Ottoman
declaration of war, and activation of the terms of the Balkan League’s
alliance. Although the alliance held through the war, it was strained by
a Serbian refusal to abide by an agreement to cede to Bulgaria land
captured in Macedonia. Greece also resisted Bulgarian aims, and when
Bulgarian forces attacked Serbian and Greek positions in Macedonia
in June 1913, the alliance fell apart.Alliance Text
His Majesty, Ferdinand I, King of the Bulgars, and His Majesty
Peter I, King of Serbia, animated by the conviction of the com-
munity of the interests and of the identity of the destinies of
their countries and of both brother-nations, the Bulgarian and
the Serbian, and determined to defend their interests solidly
and with united forces and to safeguard their full progress,
hereby agree as follows:
Article 1.—The Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of
Serbia guarantee each other their mutual independence and the
inviolability of their respective territories, and for that object
they engage, absolutely and without limit, to succour each other
with their entire forces, in the case that one of them should be
attacked by one or several foreign States.
Article 2.—Both contracting parties engage themselves to
proceed to the help of the other with their entire forces should
any Great Power whatever attempt to annex, or militarily
occupy, even if only temporarily, any portion of Balkan terri-
tory which is now under the Turkish rule, if one of the contract-
ing parties should consider that action as opposed to her vital
interests and as a casus belli.
Article 3.—Both contracting parties engage themselves not
to conclude peace otherwise than together and after a previous
understanding between them.
Article 4.—With a view to the most complete and expedi-
tious fulfilment of this Treaty, a Military Convention shall be
concluded in which everything for which each contracting