The Treaty of Björkö, known as the Treaty of Koivisto in modern Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, was a secret mutual defense accord signed on July 24, 1905 between Wilhelm II

William II, German Emperor

Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15 June 1888 to 9 November 1918. He was a grandson of the British Queen Victoria and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe...

 of the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II of Russia

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...

.

Secret meeting

Prior to the signing of the mutual defense treaty, Wilhelm II arranged four days earlier to meet secretly with Tsar Nicholas II. On Sunday evening July 23, 1905, the Kaiser arrived from Vyborg Bay

Vyborg Bay

The Bay of Vyborg is a deep inlet running northeastward near the eastern end of Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. The city of Vyborg is located near the head of the gulf.The bay is connected by the Saimaa Canal to the lake Saimaa in Finland....

 to Koivisto Sound in his yacht, the Hohenzollern. He dropped anchor near Tsar Nicholas' yacht, the Polar Star. This secret meeting is confirmed based on their discussions via telegram dubbed, "The Willy-Nicky Correspondence

The Willy-Nicky Correspondence

The Willy-Nicky Correspondence was a set of telegrams between Wilhelm II of the German Empire and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia from June 16, 1914 up until August 2, 1914....

."

Treaty

The overall defense treaty contained four articles and was signed by Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II. It was countersigned by Tchirschky, Count von Benckendorff, and Naval Minister Aleksey Birilyov.

Their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor of All the Russias

All the Russias

All the Russias is the standard English translation of a term which was used to refer either to the Russian Empire, or to the Russian-inhabitated lands of the Russian Empire...

 on the one side, and the German Emperor on the other, in order to insure the peace of Europe, have placed themselves in accord on the following points of the herein treaty relative to a defensive alliance:

• Art. I. If any European state attacks one of the two empires, the allied party engages to aid the other contracting party with all his military and naval forces.
• Art. II. The high contracting parties engage not to conclude with any common enemy a separate peace.
• Art. III. The present treaty will become effective from the moment of the conclusion of the peace between Russia and Japan and may be denounced with a year's previous notification.
• Art. IV. When this treaty has become effective, Russia will undertake the necessary steps to inform France of it and to propose to the latter to adhere to it as an ally.

[Signed] Nicholas. William.

[Countersigned] Von Tschirschky

Heinrich von Tschirschky

Heinrich Leonhard von Tschirschky und Bögendorff was a German diplomat and politician, who served as Foreign Secretary and head of the Foreign Office from 24 January 1906 to 25 October 1907.-Early career:...

. Count Bekendorf. Naval Minister, Birilev

Aleksei Birilev

Aleksei Alekseyevich Birelev was an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy and Minister of the Navy in the Imperial Government.Berilev was born into a family of relatively poor Russian nobility, without an estate. He attended the Nikolayev Naval Academy graduating in 1889...

.

Reaction

Although the treaty was signed by the Tsar, it was inevitably a "dead letter" because of Russia's commitment to France

Franco-Russian Alliance

The Franco-Russian Alliance was a military alliance between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire that ran from 1892 to 1917. The alliance ended the diplomatic isolation of France and undermined the supremacy of the German Empire in Europe...

. The Russian statesmen Sergey Witte and Vladimir Lambsdorff

Vladimir Lambsdorff

Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Lamsdorf was a Russian statesman of Baltic German descent who served as Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire from 1900 1906, a crucial period which included the Russo-Japanese War and the Russian Revolution of 1905.- Early career :Like so many other Russian diplomats,...

, neither present at the yacht nor consulted beforehand, insisted that the treaty should never come into effect unless it was approved and signed by France. The Tsar gave in to their pressure, much to the consternation of the Kaiser who did not fail to reproach his cousin: "We joined hands and signed before God, who heard our vows!... What is signed, is signed! and God is our testator!"

Sources

• Cecil, Lamar. Wilhelm II. UNC Press, 1996. ISBN 0807822833.
• Fay, Sidney B. The Kaiser's Secret Negotiations with the Tsar, 1904-1905. The American Historical Review: Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 48-72. October 1918.