Editing Peace of Utrecht (section)

==Aftermath==
{{main|Balance of power (international relations)}}
[[Image:Allegory on the Peace of Utrecht.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|''Allegory of the Peace of Utrecht'' by [[Antoine Rivalz]]]]
The Treaty stipulated that "because of the great danger which threatened the liberty and safety of all Europe, from the too close conjunction of the kingdoms of Spain and France, ... one and the same person should never become King of both kingdoms".<ref>Article II, Peace and Friendship Treaty of Utrecht.</ref> Some historians argue this makes it a significant milestone in the evolution of the modern nation state and concept of a [[Balance of power in international relations|balance of power]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Lesaffer|first1=Randall|title=The peace of Utrecht and the balance of power|url=https://blog.oup.com/2014/11/utrecht-peace-treaty-balance-power-europe/|website=OUP Blog|date=10 November 2014 |access-date=5 May 2018}}</ref>

First mentioned in 1701 by [[Charles Davenant]] in his ''Essays on the Balance of Power'', it was widely publicised in Britain by author and Tory satirist [[Daniel Defoe]] in his 1709 article ''A Review of the Affairs of France''. The idea was reflected in the wording of the treaties and resurfaced after the defeat of [[Napoleon]] in the 1815 [[Concert of Europe]] that dominated Europe in the 19th century.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

For the individual signatories, Britain established naval superiority over its competitors, commercial access to Spain and America, and control of Menorca and Gibraltar; it retains the latter territory to this day. France accepted the Protestant succession on the British throne, ensuring a smooth transition when Anne died in August 1714, and ended its support for the Stuarts under the [[Anglo-French Alliance (1716–1731)|1716 Anglo-French Treaty]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Szechi|first1=Daniel|title=The Jacobites: Britain and Europe, 1688–1788|date=1994|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-3774-0|pages=93–95|edition=First}}</ref> While the war left all participants with unprecedented levels of government debt, only Great Britain successfully financed it.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Carlos |first1=Ann |last2=Neal |first2=Larry |last3=Wandschneider |first3=Kirsten |title=The Origins of National Debt: The Financing and Re-financing of the War of the Spanish Succession |journal=International Economic History Association |date=2006 |page=2 |url=http://www.helsinki.fi/iehc2006/papers1/Carlos.pdf |access-date=6 September 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Andreas Moeller - Erzherzogin Maria Theresia - Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|left|Ensuring the succession of [[Maria Theresa]] reduced Austria's gains from the war, and ultimately led to the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] in 1740]]
Spain retained the majority of its Empire and recovered remarkably quickly; the recapture of Naples and Sicily in 1718 was only prevented by British naval power and a second attempt was successful in 1734. The 1707, 1715 and 1716 [[Nueva Planta decrees|''Nueva Planta'' decrees]] abolished regional political structures in the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]], [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]], [[Kingdom of Majorca|Majorca]] and the [[Principality of Catalonia]], although Catalonia and Aragon retained some of these rights until 1767.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vives Vi |first1=Jaime| title=An Economic History of Spain |date=1969 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691051659 |page=591}}</ref>

Despite failure in Spain, Austria secured its position in Italy and Hungary, allowing it to continue expansion into areas of South-East Europe previously held by the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Even after paying expenses associated with the [[Barrier Treaty|Dutch Barrier]], increased tax revenues from the [[Austrian Netherlands]] funded a significant upgrade of the Austrian military.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Falkner |first1=James |title=The War of the Spanish Succession |date=2015 |publisher=Pen and Sword Military |location=4173–4181 |asin=B0189PTWZG |edition=Kindle}}</ref> However, these gains were diminished by various factors, chiefly the disruption of the [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1713]] caused by Charles disinheriting his nieces in favour of his daughter [[Maria Theresa]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kann |first1=Robert A |title=A History of the Habsburg Empire 1526–1918 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofhabsbur00kann |url-access=registration |date=1974 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04206-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofhabsbur00kann/page/88 88–89] |edition=1980}}</ref>

Attempts to ensure its succession involved Austria in wars of little strategic value; much of the fighting in the 1733–1735 [[War of the Polish Succession]] taking place in its maritime provinces in Italy. Austria had traditionally relied on naval support from the Dutch, whose own capability had been severely degraded; Britain prevented the loss of Sicily and Naples in 1718 but refused to do so again in 1734.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=M. S.|title=The War of Austrian Succession 1740–1748|date=1995|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-582-05950-4|pages=10–11}}</ref> The dispute continued to loosen Habsburg control over the Empire; Bavaria, Hanover, Prussia and Saxony increasingly acted as independent powers and in 1742, [[Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles of Bavaria]] became the first non-Habsburg Emperor in over 300 years.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lindsay |first1=J. O. |title=The New Cambridge Modern History |volume= 7: The Old Regime, 1713–1763 |date=1957 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521045452 |page=420}}</ref>

The Dutch Republic ended the war effectively bankrupt, while the damage suffered by the Dutch merchant navy permanently affected their commercial and political strength and it was superseded by Britain as the pre-eminent European mercantile power.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Dadson |editor-first=Trevor |last=Elliott |first=John |title=The Road to Utrecht in Britain, Spain and the Treaty of Utrecht 1713–2013 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-909662-22-3 |page=8}}</ref> The acquisition of the [[Barrier Treaty|Barrier Fortresses]] however became an important asset of Dutch foreign policy and enlarged their sphere of influence. Although judged favourably by contemporaries,{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2002|p=31}} it was later argued that the barrier proved to be largely illusory when put to the test during the [[War of Austrian Succession]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kubben |first1=Raymond |title=Regeneration and Hegemony: Franco-Batavian Relations in the Revolutionary Era 1795–1803 |date=2011 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |isbn=978-90-04-18558-6 |page=148}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Adolphus William |title=The Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy, Volume 2 |date=1922 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108040136 |page=57 |edition=2011}}</ref> The Dutch had in any case successfully defended their positions in the Southern Netherlands and their troops were central in the alliance which halted French territorial expansion in Europe until a new cycle began in [[French Revolutionary Wars|1792]].{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2020|p=354}}

While the final settlement at Utrecht was far more favourable to France than the Allied offer of 1709 had been, it gained little that had not already been achieved through diplomacy by February 1701.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bocholz |first1=Robert |title=Early Modern England 1485-1714 |date=2020 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |isbn=978-1-118-53222-5 |page=364 |edition=3rd}}</ref> Though France remained a great power, concern at its relative decline in military and economic terms compared to Britain was an underlying cause of the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] in 1740.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lynn |first1=John |title=The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714 |series=Modern Wars in Perspective |date=1999 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-05629-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/warsoflouisxiv1600lynn/page/361 361–362] |url=https://archive.org/details/warsoflouisxiv1600lynn/page/361 }}</ref>