Treaty of Rastatt Ends the War of Spanish Succession

March 7, 1714

France and Austria signed the last piece of the Utrecht settlement in a Baden palace. Spain's empire was carved: Philip V kept the throne but lost the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, and Sardinia to the Habsburgs. The era of Louis XIV's wars was finally, exhaustedly, over. Europe drew breath. Britain emerged with Gibraltar, Minorca, and the asiento slave-trade contract that would enrich Liverpool for decades.