In the new treaty, France agreed to assist Austria in regaining the province of
Silesia from
Prussia in exchange for Austria ceding the
Austrian Netherlands to France at the war's conclusion, the acquisition of which had long been a goal of the French state. Financial
subsidies paid from France to Austria were continued, which confirmed a British fear about the depth of the alliance. In the wake of the treaty, French troops moved to occupy key ports and settlements in the Austrian Netherlands such as
Ostend and
Nieuport, freeing up their Austrian garrisons to move east to attack Prussia. That particularly alarmed Great Britain, which had long sought to prevent the French moving into the
Low Countries, but the treaty brought to an end the barrier which had existed for forty years. The French intended to put a
Bourbon monarch from the Spanish branch of the dynasty,
Duke Philip of Parma, on the throne of a new puppet state in the
Southern Netherlands. In addition it was agreed that the towns of
Chimay,
Ostend,
Beaumont,
Nieuport,
Ypres,
Furnes and
Mons would all be ceded directly to France. The treaty also served to confirm a planned
partition of Prussia, which was to take place between Russia, Sweden and Saxony. ==Aftermath==