Treaty of Rastatt in European politics, associated with the shift to the balance of power politics. Austria began to negotiate the treaty with France after it had been abandoned by its allies, particularly Great Britain, during negotiations for the Treaty of Utrecht. Great Britain feared a possible connection of Austria and Spain in the person of the Emperor Charles VI, who became emperor in 1711 and claimed the Spanish throne, as it would shift the balance of power politics in Europe to Habsburg Austria. In June 1713, France launched the Rhine campaign against the Holy Roman Empire, conquering Kaiserslautern, Landau and Breisgau. After
Cobden–Chevalier Treaty that with such an alliance in being it did not matter what other European states thought. Rouher presented the Emperor with his commercial plan with sixty pages of favourable arguments, which the Emperor approved. The Emperor announced the treaty in a letter published on 15 January 1860 and it caused fury among the protectionist interests. Princeton University economist Gene Grossman described the treaty as the "first modern trade agreement." On 23 January 1860 at the Foreign Office the plenipotentiaries of both nations signed and sealed the treaty. Lord Cowley, the British Ambassador to France, and Cobden signed on behalf of