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You can break an alliance quickly by declaring war against your ally.
Alternatively, divorcing or breaking betrothals that formed the alliance will also end it. Or as a last resort, you could murder characters from these marriages to end the alliance too.
Method 1: Declaring War Against Your Ally
This is often the quickest method of breaking an alliance.
Whenever you declare war against an ally, your alliance with them will be broken, and you’ll lose Prestige and Fame.
The declare war window is shown for an ally, along with the warning tooltip
This method can be inconvenient since you must actually fight in a war. You can optionally start the war and immediately surrender to end it, although this costs Gold and Prestige.
It’s possible to surrender immediately after declaring war, although the costs are high
You can also opt for a minor war if it’s available to you, such as a Raid for Captives if your religion has Human Sacrifice.
The Raid for Captives casus belli is available for this ruler, whose religion has the Human Sacrifice tenet
Method 2: Divorcing Ally Marriages
Most alliances in the game are formed by marriage ties.
Usually, an heir or sibling is married to a family member from another realm.
If you still have the option of forcing a divorce or breaking a betrothal, this is the easiest method.
An alliance has ended because a betrothal was broken
Not all players will have the option to divorce, however. You need a religion that allows divorces to happen.
Orthodoxy, a Christian faith, is shown along with the Divorce tooltip
If your own marriage to your spouse has created an alliance, it’s easier to divorce personally compared to forcing your heirs to divorce.
Method 3: Murdering Ally Spouses
Of course, if the other methods don’t work for you, you can always kill one of the spouses involved in the alliance.
Ideally, this should be the ally’s family member. But you can also murder your own heirs to achieve the same result.
An ally’s daughter, the source of the alliance, was murdered by the player
Be careful if you’re murdering your family, since this often comes with heavier penalties if you’re caught.
The tooltip for the Kinslayer trait is shown. This character also has the normal Murderer trait
Samantha is a Scottish writer, editor, and lifelong gamer living in Czechia. She loves to travel around Europe and enjoy the outdoors, as long as it's not too hot! She can usually be found constructing her next CK3 dynasty, carving some tails in Monster Hunter, or enjoying a horror show or two.
