The phrase "separate peace" refers to a nation's agreement to cease military hostilities with another, even though the former country had previously entered into a military alliance with other states that remain at war with the latter country. For example, at the start of World War I (1914-1918), Russia was a member, with the United Kingdom and France, of the Triple Entente, which went to war with the Triple Alliance formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. After the fall of Russian monarch Nicholas II and the rise to power of the Bolsheviks, Russia defaulted on its commitments to the Triple Entente by signing a separate peace with Germany and its allies in 1917. This armistice was followed on 3 March1918 by the formal signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
