On 11 April, 1713, after the War of the Spanish Succession, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed between France and the Kingdom of Great Britain, the United Provinces, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Portugal and the Duchy of Savoy. It marked the end of the Spanish Empire in Europe, as the Spanish Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan and Sardinia were ceded to Austria, the Kingdom of Sicily to Savoy, Gelderland to the Kingdom of Prussia, and Minorca and Gibraltar to Great Britain. France had succeeded in placing a king of her own royal house on a neighbouring throne, but the ambitions expressed in the wars of Louis XIV had been defeated and the European system based on the balance of power largely directed by Britain was preserved.
