Lü Bu of Europe

Britain gained the monopoly on the slave trade from Spain while also weakening its trade rival, the Netherlands, and truly began to dominate world trade.

In particular, acquiring Gibraltar and Minorca let Britain shut down the Mediterranean route. Even today, they remain among Britain's most valuable possessions.

The British also forced the French to expel the pretender James Francis Edward Stuart and recognize George I of the House of Hanover, heir to the childless Queen Anne of the House of Stuart (daughter of James II), as the rightful successor to the British throne.

At first glance, these seemed like a pile of meaningless recognitions, far less useful than actual territory or trading rights. In reality, however, these seemingly worthless clauses resolved Britain's greatest internal conflict at the time, clearing the way for development by removing a threat from within.

As mentioned earlier, the Jacobites, whom Franz would later use to counter the British, originated from this conflict. But even if Franz had not actively pursued the title, it would eventually have fallen to the House of Habsburg.

One incidental note: at this time, the title belonged to Francesco V of the Este line, who would later become the Duke of Modena.

Modena was one of the four minor states of Central Italy.

France likewise signed away its claims to the colonies around Hudson Bay in northern Canada and ceded Acadia and Newfoundland in eastern Canada.

In a sense, this helped bring Canada into being.

The final clause of the Treaty of Utrecht turned all the blood the French had shed and all their efforts into nothing.

Although history books written by the Anglo-Saxons called France the biggest winner, in reality, a country with a population of only twenty million had lost two million people.

The world's foremost navy had been