If you had 2 countries that signed a peace treaty/agreement between each other, and one of those countries chose to declara war on a third different country… is the other country in the peace treaty forced to back them as allies or are their hands washed since the other broke peace even against a different country?
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The basic answer with any of this is “it depends on how the agreement is written and how each side determines to implement the agreement.”
A significant principle in international affairs is that it is a “chaotic environment” meaning that there is really nobody in charge, and no country can force another country to do anything. There are a whole bunch of agreements which countries sign up for, and whether or not they follow those agreement are entirely up to them. Other countries may opt to treat a country a particular way for following or not following a given agreement.
Countries make treaties, they sometimes keep them, they sometimes break them, they sometimes formally withdraw from them.
In your specific instance, countries A and B make a peace treaty to not fight, then country A attacks country C. Country B has to make a choice. It can cite the peace treaty and say they are not involved in any way. It can also cite the treaty and come to the side of A and help them. While it may have a “treaty obligation” to do so, that doesn’t mean it will. It may also decide to say that country A is in the wrong and the peace treaty was not made with this situation in mind, and come to the aide of country C and fight against A.
Every situation is different, handled differently, justified differently, spun differently.
Also, there is a difference between a peace treaty, and an alliance treaty. Two treaties can agree to not go to war, but that doesn’t mean they agree to help one another if one is attacked.
I hope this makes sense. It’s kinda the wild west out there. Note that there are intergovernmental organizations which try to work together to bring about objectives. They may also do things like put sanctions on a country to enforce a declaration or an agreement, they may even detain citizens, or block trade or other things. Military force is even an option. That still doesn’t mean that anyone in particular is “in charge” of other countries.
Cheers
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