Treaty of Rastatt

Austria began to negotiate the treaty with France after it had been abandoned by its allies, particularly Great Britain, during the negotiations for the Treaty of Utrecht. Great Britain feared a possible personal union of Austria and Spain under the Emperor Charles VI, who took the imperial throne in 1711 and claimed the Spanish throne, since that would shift the European balance of power toward the House of Habsburg. In June 1713, France launched its Rhine campaign against the Holy Roman Empire and conquered Kaiserslautern, Landau and Breisgau. After those defeats, Emperor Charles VI accepted an offer by Louis XIV of France to reopen negotiations. ==Territorial changes==

and her son Ludwig Georg. Rev: view of the entrance of Schloss Rastatt Under the treaty, Austria received the Spanish territories in Italy, namely Naples, Milan, and Sardinia. It also received the Spanish Netherlands. Austria also gained Freiburg and several other small areas at its eastern borders from France. However, France retained Landau. As a result of the treaty, the Habsburg Empire reached its largest territorial extent since the division of the possessions of Charles V in 1556. Moreover, bargaining in Rastatt enabled Austria to gain much more than it was offered at Utrecht, where it had originally also participated as a negotiating party. However, Emperor Charles VI was outraged at the loss of Spain and thus considered the war's outcome an unacceptable failure. For France, the treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt confirmed that the throne of Spain would belong to the House of Bourbon, but denied France the additional territorial gains that it had sought. The treaties also affirmed that the thrones of France and Spain could not be united. ==See also==