Treaty of Baden (1714)

The Treaty of Baden was the treaty that ended formal hostilities between France and the Holy Roman Empire, who had been at war since the start of the War of the Spanish Succession. It was signed on 7 September 1714 in Baden, Switzerland, and complemented the treaties of Utrecht and of Rastatt. By the Treaty of Rastatt Emperor Charles VI accepted the Utrecht treaty on behalf of the Habsburg Monarchy. In the Baden treaty, the terms of peace between France and the Holy Roman Empire — formally incomplete — were agreed, and thereby the last of the many conflicts within the War of the Spanish Succession was ended. The details of the Treaty of Baden and the peace conference held in this town are recalled by the town's banneret and eye-witness Caspar Joseph Dorer (1673-1754) in his "Diarium".

The treaty was the first international agreement signed on Swiss territory. In the margins of the conference, the signatories also secretly agreed to a Catholic union to intervene in favour of the Catholic cantons defeated at nearby Villmergen two years previously, as a result of which the Peace of Aarau had ended Catholic hegemony within the Confederacy.

Terms

 * The treaty allowed France to retain Alsace and Landau, but returned the east bank of the Rhine river (the Breisgau) to Austria.
 * The prince electors of Bavaria and Cologne were reinstated in their territories and their positions.
 * Emperor Charles VI kept the title of King of Spain and the Spanish heritage, which was in fact of no value since in Spain, the power remained with King Philip V of Spain alone.