i was forced into peace

[russinmn]

i was at war with weak ragnar. strong isabella and strong roosevelt were allied against ragnar, too. ragnar apparently capitulated to izzy and peace was declared all around. is this the way things go? I wasn't even given a chance to go to war with izzy. what gives??

 

[Greeneyedzombie]

What is stopping you?
Just declare war on Izzy.
If both you and izzy are at war against ragnar and ragnar cappitulates, then all parties currently at war will be at peace with ragnar. IF ragnar capitulates to a civ its currently not at war with, then you will be at war wit ragnar and the one he capitulates to.

 

[Sisiutil]

If both you and izzy are at war against ragnar and ragnar cappitulates, then all parties currently at war will be at peace with ragnar. IF ragnar capitulates to a civ its currently not at war with, then you will be at war wit ragnar and the one he capitulates to.

That's pretty much the way it works.

If war against Ragnar's new master/mistress is not attractive, then you don't have much choice: you're at peace.

Next time, though, be aware that things can go this way, and how to deal with it.

As I understand it, the AI waits a minimum of 10 turns after a declaration of war (DoW) before it will consent to talk to the declaring civ. That's the earliest, then, that it would be able to capitulate. If you want to avoid having your enemy capitulate to an ally, you have two choices:

1. Make your enemy capitulate to you. This would require you to have declared war first, at least one turn before your allies, in order to have a chance to get to this option before them; so if you want allies, wait at least one turn after your DoW before inviting them. In addition, the attractiveness of this option depends on whether you want to vassalize your enemy or not.
2. Have your allies make peace with your enemy. You can try asking politely, but they will likely require a bribe of techs or gold, maybe both. It's often a good idea to go into a war with a tech or two to swap with other civs for this reason. This goes even if you don't invite any allies yourself; the AI has a tendency to be opportunistic and dog-pile a civ that's losing a war.

Also keep in mind that your enemy may vassalize to a neutral civ; all that's required is that the neutral civ is willing to go to war with you. I often find that in this latter situation, the war against the master is mostly a phony war. You can likely finish off the vassal provided you can hold off whatever token efforts the master makes at attacking you.