Paris, Treaty of

I

(1229) Treaty by which Raymond VII of Toulouse conceded defeat to Louis IX of France after the Albigensian Crusade.

It arranged the marriage of Raymond's daughter and Louis's brother and provided for the eventual return of Languedoc to the crown, thus destroying the independence of the princes of the south.

II

(1259) Peace treaty signed by Henry III of England and Louis IX of France.

It allowed the English to keep Aquitaine and nearby territories but obliged Henry to acknowledge himself the vassal of the French king. The agreement kept peace between England and France until the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War in 1337.

III

(1763) Treaty concluding the Seven Years' War (including the French and Indian War).

It was signed by Britain and Hanover on one side and France and Spain on the other. France renounced to Britain the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi, its conquests in India since 1749, and four West Indian islands. Britain restored to France four other West Indian islands and the West African colony of Gorée (Senegal). In return for recovering Havana and Manila, Spain ceded Florida to Britain and received Louisiana from the French.

IV

(1814) Treaty signed in Paris that ended the Napoleonic Wars between France and the Allies (Austria, Britain, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Portugal).

The terms were generous to France, since Napoleon had abdicated and the Bourbon dynasty was restored. France was allowed to retain its boundaries of 1792 and ceded only several islands to Britain. Other terms were left to be discussed later.

V

(1815) Second treaty between France and the Allies, following Napoleon's Hundred Days and final defeat.

It was harsher than the first Treaty of Paris (1814). France was required to return to its borders of 1790 and was stripped of the Saar and Savoy regions; it was also obliged to pay an indemnity of 700 million francs and to support a 150,000-man army of occupation for three to five years.

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      (1783), treaty between Great Britain and the United States concluding the American Revolution. See Paris, Peace of.

▪ 1763

      (1763), treaty concluding the Franco-British conflicts of the Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in North America) and signed by representatives of Great Britain and Hanover on one side and France and Spain on the other, with Portugal expressly understood to be included. It was signed in Paris on Feb. 10, 1763.

      By the terms of the treaty, France renounced to Britain all the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi, excluding New Orleans and environs; the West Indian islands of Grenada, Saint Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago; and all French conquests made since 1749 in India or in the East Indies. Britain, in return, restored to France the West Indian islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Marie-Galante, and Désirade; the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon off Newfoundland; the West African colony of Gorée (Senegal); and Belle-Île-en-Mer off Brittany; Britain also ceded Saint Lucia to France. Spain at the same time recovered Havana and Manila, ceded East and West Florida to the British, and received Louisiana, including New Orleans, in compensation from the French. The French, moreover, evacuated Hanover, Hesse, and Brunswick.

      The British concessions to France in the West Indies were made partly in order to secure the French evacuation of Prussian exclaves in western Germany that France felt obliged to occupy pending Austria's settlement with Prussia (in the Treaty of Hubertusburg of Feb. 15, 1763). A vociferous section of the British public, however, would have preferred to retain the lucrative West Indian islands or to retrocede Canada instead.

▪ 1856

      (1856), treaty signed on March 30, 1856, in Paris that ended the Crimean War. The treaty was signed between Russia on one side and France, Great Britain, Sardinia-Piedmont, and Turkey on the other. Because the western European powers had fought the war to protect Ottoman Turkey from Russia, the treaty gave special attention to this problem. The signatories guaranteed the independence and territorial integrity of Turkey. Russia was obliged to surrender Bessarabia (situated at the mouth of the Danube River) to Moldavia, which along with Walachia were reorganized as autonomous states under Ottoman suzerainty. (These two principalities later joined to form Romania.) The Black Sea was neutralized (i.e., its waters were closed to all warships), and the Danube was opened to the shipping of all nations. In 1870 Russia repudiated the demilitarization of the Black Sea and began to rebuild its naval fleet there.

▪ 1898

 (1898), treaty concluding the Spanish-American War. It was signed by representatives of Spain and the United States in Paris on Dec. 10, 1898 (see primary source document: Treaty of Paris).

      Armistice negotiations conducted in Washington, D.C., ended with the signing of a protocol on Aug. 12, 1898, which, besides ending hostilities, provided that a peace conference be held in Paris by October, that Spain relinquish Cuba and cede Puerto Rico and one of the Mariana Islands to the United States, and that the United States hold Manila until the disposition of the Philippines had been determined.

      By the time that the conference opened on October 1, U.S. President William McKinley had finally decided that the United States must take possession of the Philippines. The demand was ultimately accepted with great reluctance by Spain, with the stipulation that the United States should pay Spain $20 million nominally for public buildings and public works in the Philippines. The final treaty also forced Spain to cede all claim to Cuba and to agree to assume the liability for the Cuban debt, estimated at $400 million. As indemnity, Spain ceded Puerto Rico and Guam (in the Marianas) to the United States. (An attempt by the U.S. commissioners to secure Kosrae in the Caroline Islands was successfully blocked by Germany, which had already initiated purchase of the islands.)

      The treaty was vigorously opposed in the U.S. Senate as inaugurating a policy of “imperialism” in the Philippines and was approved on Feb. 6, 1899, by only a single vote. Two days earlier, hostilities had begun at Manila between U.S. troops and insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo. For more than three years the Filipinos carried on guerrilla warfare against U.S. rule.

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