Utrecht, treaty of

views updated

Utrecht, treaty of, 1713. This was part of the general settlement ending the War of the Spanish Succession. France and Spain recognized the Hanoverian succession, and France agreed to expel the old pretender from French soil. Philip V of Spain abandoned his claim to the French throne. Many territorial changes, partly designed to create strong barrier states on the borders of France, occurred. The most important were that France retained Alsace, Philip retained Spain and the Indies but lost his other possessions in the Netherlands and Italy to the Emperor Charles VI, Britain gained French territory in North America, and Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain, the Dutch were allowed to garrison barrier towns in the former Spanish Netherlands, and Savoy gained French territory and Sicily.

Clyve Jones

More From encyclopedia.com