History Main / BindingAncientTreaty

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{England}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by 1961--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away.) Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed; while it's hard to say exactly what the Portuguese public thought in the early 60s (what with the quasi-fascist dictatorship), it's pretty clear that by 1968, just a few years after the Goa annexation, most Portuguese were deeply unhappy with the government's commitment to empire. When the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies--save UsefulNotes/{{Macau}}, which didn't particularly want independence because that would just be inviting UsefulNotes/MaoZedong's RedChina to invade and destroy the territory's increasingly-lucrative gambling industry--because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, largely because the same powers that England/Britain saw as a threat (France and Spain) were also threats to Portugal or its interests, and their colonial interests were generally either well away from each other or compatible (for instance, the Brits never begrudged the Portuguese their hold on Goa while they held India, and the Portuguese never had designs on an Indian colony bigger than Goa). The alliance was also supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]].

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': Discovering that Halbrand is a KingIncognito and Sauron's forces are planning to attack the Southlands, Galadriel demands to speak to Tar-Palantir after Queen Miriel refused her plea to honor the alliance that once existed between Númenor and the Elves. Her actions land her in jail, but after escaping from her imprisonment, Galadriel headed to the king's chamber only to find Miriel already waiting for her. She learns from Miriel that shortly after her father became king, he was almost overthrown by the people for being Faithful to the Elves. And for this reason, Miriel had to adopt isolationist politics. But on the day Galadriel is ready to departure for Middle-earth, the Nimloth trees start to lose their petals, a sign Miriel interprets as the Valar's tears. She decides that helping Galadriel is what the Valar want from her, and spends the next days preparing for a military expedition in the Southlands.

** An explicit universal prohibition against ''Piracy,'' meaning that any country could try any pirate in any court anywhere in the world. Both concepts are still in force today throughout the world (though the rise of the concepts of international law and crimes against humanity, and economic integration have somewhat undermined the former; [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment opinions differ on whether this is a good thing]]).

** An explicit universal prohibition against ''Piracy,'' meaning that any country could try any pirate in any court anywhere in the world. Both concepts are still in force today throughout the world.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{England}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by 1961--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away.) Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed; while it's hard to say exactly what the Portuguese public thought in the early 60s (what with the quasi-fascist dictatorship), it's pretty clear that by 1968, just a few years after the Goa annexation, most Portuguese were deeply unhappy with the government's commitment to empire. When the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies--save UsefulNotes/{{Macau}}, which didn't particularly want independence given that this would just be inviting UsefulNotes/MaoZedong's RedChina to invade--because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, largely because the same powers that England/Britain saw as a threat (France and Spain) were also threats to Portugal or its interests, and their colonial interests were generally either well away from each other or compatible (for instance, the Brits never begrudged the Portuguese their hold on Goa while they held India, and the Portuguese never had designs on an Indian colony bigger than Goa). The alliance was also supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* Although newer than most of the entries on this list, UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates ratified nearly 400 treaties with various UsefulNotes/{{Native American|s}} tribes from 1778 to about 1850. These treaties are effectively considered to be between sovereign nations and many of them are still enforced in one way or another to this day (which is why many reservations [[NativeAmericanCasino allow gambling]] and have unique tax situations). Whether a certain treaty still applies, or if it even can be enforced, is a complicated enough issue that there is a specific specialization of law study for it (tribal law). Ironically, the United States is much more likely to abide by such treaties now than it was at the time they were signed.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{England}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by 1961--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away.) Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed; while it's hard to say exactly what the Portuguese public thought in the early 60s (what with the quasi-fascist dictatorship), it's pretty clear that by 1968, just a few years after the Goa annexation, most Portuguese were deeply unhappy with the government's commitment to empire. When the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, largely because the same powers that England/Britain saw as a threat (France and Spain) were also threats to Portugal or its interests, and their colonial interests were generally either well away from each other or compatible (for instance, the Brits never begrudged the Portuguese their hold on Goa while they held India, and the Portuguese never had designs on an Indian colony bigger than Goa). The alliance was also supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

** First he baited Denmark into a war it could not win by digging up an old treaty from 1460 that Schleswig and Holstein would be "op eewig ungedeeld" (forever un-separated), which he (through what modern historians have called a perhaps bit liberal interpretation of said treaty) claimed Denmark was violating through a new constitutional reform triggered in part by different inheritance laws in Denmark proper and Holstein. (This is a simplification--as UsefulNotes/TheViscountPalmerston said, "Only three people have ever really understood the Schleswig-Holstein business: [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor the Prince Consort]], who is dead; a German professor, who has gone mad; and I, who have forgotten all about it.")

* Aversion in ''Series/{{Andromeda}}''. An alien race is shooting at Dylan's ship and causing trouble for the people he is trying to convince to join his New Commonwealth when Dylan broadcasts some code. Beka is surprised and incensed that he's trying to talk with these people, only for them to stop shooting, but then the aliens (known as the Pyrians) proceed to say how the treaty Dylan is invoking was considered null and void with the fall of the original Commonwealth. However, they are willing to talk at this point.
** The Pyrians are actually more likely to honor agreements than any other power. This appears to be subverted in a later episode, when the Pyrians start attacking merchant ships belonging to a human mining colony. Dylan intervenes but eventually figures out that the reason the Pyrians were attacking was because the colonists were smuggling a substance highly-addictive to the Pyrians into their territory. So the Pyrians have only been policing their borders for drug smugglers (they could've blown up the planet if they wished).

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{England}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by 1961--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away.) Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed; while it's hard to say exactly what the Portuguese public thought in the early 60s (what with the quasi-fascist dictatorship), it's pretty clear that by 1968, just a few years after the Goa annexation, most Portuguese were deeply unhappy with the government's commitment to empire. When the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, largely because the same powers that England/Britain saw as a threat (France and Spain) were also threats to Portugal or its interests. The alliance was also supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{England}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by the 1960s--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away.) Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed (the majority from 1968); when the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, largely because the same powers that England/Britain saw as a threat (France and Spain) were also threats to Portugal or its interests. The alliance was also supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': The Corbettites and the Heterodyne family made a treaty generations ago that the Heterodyne's have ''actually kept''. So long as the Corbettites keep some artifacts that are so dangerous that the Heterodynes couldn't trust themselves to protect them without being tempted to use them again safely locked away, no Heterodyne troops will attack Corbettite trains, railways or stations. The agreement has been in place for centuries, and has never once been broken.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by the 1960s--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away.) Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed (the majority from 1968); when the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, and was supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'': When the Kushan test the Hyperdrive for the first time, they unknowingly broke a 4,000 year old treaty forbidding them to do so. This results in the Taiidan Empire committing genocide on the Kushan.
** However, no other race is ok with this, especially since atmosphere-deprivation weapons are illegal. Unfortunately, since the Taiidan Empire has grown significantly in the past 4000 years, they can lord over all the other races with impunity, even if they merely pretend to be a part of the Galactic Council. Even their own people are so disgusted by it that a civil war breaks out with support from a small but significant chunk of the fleet that aids the Kushan in the final battle.

** Left unclear is what would happen if war broke out ''between'' NATO members, which is more plausible than you might think given that Greece and Turkey, who have been enemies for almost a thousand years and still have major ongoing diplomatic disputes, are both members.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by the 1960s--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. (For comparison, France also had some small scattered colonies in India—chiefly Pondicherry, but also a few others—but when Indian independence came in 1948, it fairly quickly agreed to hold referenda in its territories to determine whether that would remain with France or join India. The French honored the results when all the territories voted for India—they did drag their feet a bit on ratifying the treaty to formalize this, as there was a powerful and displeased colonial caucus in the French Parliament that didn’t go away until the late 1950s, but they handed the territories to ''de facto'' Indian administration right away. Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed (the majority from 1968); when the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, and was supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by the 1960s--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed (the majority from 1968); when the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, and was supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* While the network of interlocking treaties that triggered the massive involvement in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI largely only went back fifty years, that's still a long enough time for the actual signatures of the people who scribbled the treaty to not be the same as those who were in charge at the start of the war. Given how devastating it was for everyone's chits to be called in at once, WWI deserves special mention here.

* The Canadian comedy ''Buried on Sunday'' centered on a small fishing community on an island of nova Scotia that due to a provision in an old treaty between Canada and Denmark had the right to secede from Canada. When their fishing quota is taken away the village invokes the treaty and declares themselves their own country. The Canadian government considers this a joke until they find out that a damaged Russian nuclear submarine came to the island and its four remaining crewmen sold the sub with its missiles to the villagers. They now have to take the treaty seriously since the village is now a nuclear power.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Portuguese_Alliance oldest diplomatic alliance still in force]] began with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Windsor_1386 Treaty of Windsor]], signed between UsefulNotes/{{Portugal}} and UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} - the agreement having been established in 1373 and the actual treaty being signed in 1386. The British invoked it (with other incentives and reasons) to coax Portuguese assistance in both UsefulNotes/WorldWarI (in which Portugal contributed troops to the Allies) and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in which Portugal--by then a conservative/quasi-fascist dictatorship--[[WorldWarII/TheNeutralNations remained neutral]] but gave the Allies critical help, particularly the use of the Azores and Madeira as mid-Atlantic resupply stations). The Portuguese had less luck invoking it when India invaded Portuguese-held Goa (Britain cited many things to counter Portugal there, like how India was part of UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealth[[note]]There was also a bit of "get with the times, you're embarrassing us," since by the 1960s--when India invaded Goa--basically nobody who wasn't running Portugal thought the Portuguese colonial empire was a good idea. Frankly, a lot of ordinary Portuguese agreed; when the Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974, one of the first things the new government did was give independence to the remaining colonies, because the Portuguese people were tired of fighting pointless wars to hold on to colonies they didn't see the point of anymore and generally thought to be unjustly held.[[/note]]), as well as [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_British_Ultimatum that time it almost got broken]]. That said, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is less of this trope than most think, as it was repeatedly reaffirmed over the centuries, and was supported by a strong trading relationship throughout; Portugal was a good market for English textiles, and the English aristocracy has long [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff absolutely adored port wine]], to the point that most port houses have English names. Not for nothing did English economist David Ricardo's seminal 1817 treatise on the concept of comparative advantage use the example of English woolens and Portuguese wine. [[note]]Perhaps coincidentally, Ricardo himself came from a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese origin.[[/note]]

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series has the [[OurElvesAreBetter Bosmer]] [[ForestRanger (Wood Elves)]] and their "Green Pact". In exchange for Y'ffre's (the forest spirit of Valenwood) patronage, they have sworn never to harm any plant life in Valenwood (though they can import timber from other regions of Tamriel when necessary), and must live on an almost exclusively carnivorous diet. One of the most prominent aspects of the Green Pact dictates that the Bosmer must ''[[ImAHumanitarian consume]]'' the flesh of fallen invaders as it is not allowed to rot within Valenwood. (Bosmer living outside of Valenwood appear to be exempt from the Pact.)

* In the ''Literature/NightWatch'' books, the Dark and the Light [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividuals Others]] had once fought a devastating war that was only stopped, because they realized that they would destroy the world. Both sides signed the Grand Treaty that severely limits what they can do and enforces the balance between the two sides. The Treaty also demands the creation of the Night Watch (composed of Light Others) to monitor the actions of the Dark Others and the Day Watch being its Dark Other equivalent. There is also the Inquisition, composed of former members of both sides (who have grown disillusioned with their side's philosophy) to act as a neutral party and judge high-level Treaty violations. While both sides honor the treaty on the surface, the ancient and powerful leaders of both sides tend to play long games to try to earn advantages to their side. The Inquisition, while not particularly powerful in an of itself, does possess a cache of powerful magical artifacts that can be used in emergencies to bolster their strength. In addition, in case one of the sides chose to ignore the Inquisition's ruling, it's almost a guarantee that the other side would join the Inquisition and overpower the violator.