Secret treaty - Definition and Overview

A Secret Treaty is a treaty between nations that is not revealed to other nations or interested observers. An example would be a secret alliance between two nations to support each other if war came. The opposing nations would be unaware of the treaty and therefore unable to add it to their calculations. Secret treaties were common before the First World War, and many blamed them for helping spark that conflict. Other noted secret treaties include the sections of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that divided Eastern Europe and the Quadpartite Agreement on intelligence matters between Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia.