diplomatic power of Defensive Pact

Ryoga · Aug 29, 2014

Redaxe said:
This is not necessarily a bad thing from a "game experience" or even realism point of view.
Just think of some historical examples.

World War 1 was not supposed to happen because every country had Defensive Pacts which were intended to make the cost of war greater than the gains.

World War 2 Britain signs a defensive pact with Poland, Germany calls bluff, annexes poor Poland who gets no support from Britain. France declares war on Germany also as part of its treaty with Britain, fast forward to Dunkirk and the Brits leave France to their inevitable fate.
Not the fault of the Brits of course, they weren't ready and their politicians feared the shedding of more blood but goes to show that Defensive Treaties don't necessarily work in real life, and I don't think the consequences should be too predictable in Civ 5 either. Honestly I don't mind the way it works now.

But this is an example where the DoW nation (Germany) believed it had an army strong enough to withstand any retaliations from the Brits and the Frenchs (and in fact they were right on that one. Not as much when they defied the Russians later though...). It's not like Germany ignored the fact that they would likely get a declaration of war from them, they knew, they calculated their chances and they invaded Poland anyway.
The AI doesn't do anything of that sort, if they see a weak opponent they attack it even if it has a defensive pact with someone who could "wipe them from the planet".

If you want real examples of wars that did not happen because of defensive treaties (apparent or implicit) there's plenty of that.

Just think of Taiwan or just think of NATO and how many times a NATO nation has been attacked.

diplomatic power of Defensive Pact

Ryoga

King

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