History Main / PeaceConference

* The end of ''Series/{{Farscape}}: The Peackeeper Wars'' has one take place between [[spoiler:the Sebaceans and the Scarrans aboard ''Moya'']].
* The original ''BattlestarGalactica'' opened with a peace conference intended to end a thousand-year war between the human Twelve Colonies and the Cylons. [[spoiler: For anyone who a.) hasn't seen the original ''Battlestar Galactica'' yet b.) nonetheless cares about spoilers, the "peace conference" is really an evil and almost entirely successful plot by the bad guys to lure the good guys into a trap and wipe them out.]]
** The new one starts with something similar, but different: The Colonies and the Cylons had an Armistice Line, and an agreement to meet once a year on a little station on the line where representatives of each side would presumably sit across a table from one another, stare at each other for a while, and then go home. This arrangement is remarkably similar to the arrangement for the Panmunjom Conference between the US-led UN coalition and North Korea set up at the end of TheKoreanWar and has been going on continuously ever since (see RealLife, below). Except...the Cylons don't send anyone. Ever. No one has seen the Cylons presumably since the peace agreement 40 years before the series begins. [[spoiler:Eventually, the Cylons walk in one fateful meeting and shoot the Colonial representative, starting the war.]]

* ''SuikodenIII'' opens with a cease-fire agreement being negoiated by the Grassland Clans and the Zexen Confederacy, while the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia is waiting for a secret treaty to ''expire'' so they can launch a new offensive. Needless to say, since this is the ''start'' of the game, the treaty meeting [[{{Understatement}} doesn't go well]].

* The peace talks between the Earth army and the Brain Balls of ''{{Futurama}}'', headed by Henry Kissinger and Bender of all people/robots/severed heads. It was actually a ploy by Nixon and Brannigam, unknown to the negotiators, to use Bender as a bomb.

** More specifically he wanted the war to end in a condition where both sides had shown enough badassery to neither feel humiliated or feel overarrogant toward their rival. While it sounds and is a rather gruesome sort of logic, in Israeli-Egyptian relations at least it more or less [[AndItWorked worked]] as planned; there is peace if not friendship. With the Syrians(who pretty much got their clocks cleaned) not so much, though at least they haven't challenged the Israelis in a conventional battle sense then.

* Preventing one of these from happening between Manticore and Haven is a major plot point in [[HonorHarrington At All Costs]] and the failure of the previous one is the major reason for the resumption of hostilities in ''War of Honor''.
** They also feature prominently in Mission of Honor, though they are not quite as formal as most.
* Subverted in a short gag in ''[[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' with G'Gugvuntts and Vl'hurgs - they only appear in the midst of the conference, and, inspired by the words of Arthur Dent traveling through a freak wormhole, decide to form an alliance against Earth. They fail to reckon scale into their strategy.

* ''DoctorWho'' did this twice in the Pertwee era:

* The end of ''{{Farscape}}: The Peackeeper Wars'' has one take place between [[spoiler:the Sebaceans and the Scarrans aboard ''Moya'']].

* The description of this trope could perfectly serve as a description of the conference between TheFederation and the Klingons in ''StarTrekVI:TheUndiscoveredCountry''.

* The UrExample (in the West at least), is the Congress of Westphalia of 1648, where all the princes great and small involved in the ThirtyYearsWar got their heads together, declared peace, and [[strike:invented]] defined the concept of state sovereignty.

* Subverted in a short gag in ''[[TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' with G'Gugvuntts and Vl'hurgs - they only appear in the midst of the conference, and, inspired by the words of Arthur Dent travelling through a freak wormhole, decide to form an alliance against Earth. They fail to reckon scale into their strategy.

** The new one starts with something similar, but different: The Colonies and the Cylons had an Armistice Line, and an agreement to meet once a year little station on the line where representatives of each side would presumably sit across a table from one another, stare at each other for a while, and then go home. This arrangement is remarkably similar to the arrangement for the Panmunjom Conference between the US-led UN coalition and North Korea set up at the end of TheKoreanWar and has been going on continuously ever since (see RealLife, below). Except...the Cylons don't send anyone. Ever. No one has seen the Cylons presumably since the peace agreement 40 years before the series begins. [[spoiler:Eventually, the Cylons walk in one fateful meeting and shoot the Colonial representative, starting the war.]]

Wars don't all have to end in a grand final battle. In fact, if the combatants both KnowWhenToFoldEm, they can end the war without either side being crippled or annihilated.

** On the other hand, most of the world views it as a complete joke. Minor countries and superpowers alike abide by its rules if and when they feel like it. For example, a few years ago America defied the U.N. to invade Iraq over Iraq... defying the U.N. Head Desk.

** On the other hand, most of the world views it as a complete joke. Minor countries and superpowers alike abide by its rules if and when they feel like it. For example, a few years ago America defied the U.N. to invade Iraq over Iraq... defying the U.N. HeadDesk.

* Decconstruction: One diplomat whose book This Troper read, said that RealLife peace conferences are theater and that the negotiations all took place beforehand. No head of state can politically afford to come to a PeaceConference without returning with a treaty so doing negotiations in person hurts a head of states bargaining ability. Therefore proper peace conferences should be done secretly and the alleged PeaceConference is only to solemnize it with an ErmineCapeEffect.

* The UrExample (in the West at least), is the Congress of Westphalia of 1648, where all the princes great and small involved in the ThirtyYearsWar got their heads together, declared peace, and strikethrough:invented defined the concept of state sovereignty.

* The UrExample (in the West at least), is the Congress of Westphalia of 1648, where all the princes great and small involved in the ThirtyYearsWar got their heads together, declared peace, and strike:invented defined the concept of state sovereignty.

* The UrExample (in the West at least), is the Congress of Westphalia of 1648, where all the princes great and small involved in the ThirtyYearsWar got their heads together, declared peace, and strikethough:invented defined the concept of state sovereignty.

* The UrExample (in the West at least), is the Congress of Westphalia of 1648, where all the princes great and small involved in the ThirtyYearsWar got their heads together, declared peace, and invented the concept of state sovereignty.

** On the other hand, most of the world views it as a complete joke. Minor countries and superpowers alike abide it's rules if and when they feel like it. For example, a few years ago America defied the U.N. to invade Iraq over Iraq... defying the U.N.. HeadDesk.

* The final season of ''[[TwentyFour 24]'' revolves around a UN-sponsored peace conference to end Kamistan's nuclear weapons programme.

[[caption-width-right:350: The Chief of State of the New Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Imperial fleet call off the war. [[PuttingOnTheReich Guess Which Is Which]]]]

[[HandOfThrawn http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gavrisompellaeon.jpg]]
[[caption-width:350: The Chief of State of the New Republic and the Supreme Commander of the Imperial fleet call off the war. [[PuttingOnTheReich Guess Which Is Which]]]]