The Peace of Utrecht signed in 1713-14 did not start a new era, France despite its defeat in the War of English Succession was still the main power (18 million), his diplomacy was the best organized and better informed about Europe, his influence transcended politics to be installed as the main cultural center of the time but this does not mean that it was defective, its machinery government had shortcomings, their heterogeneous jurisdiction made it impossible for a unified administration even if the power and prestige of maintaining a domain Luis cash. Pera the end of his reign and it was to be a crisis which is shown in the financial bankruptcy in 1713, problems crept throughout the eighteenth century, his reputation had been built during the mid-seventeenth century, already in decline, but strong against the prostrate Spain, its biggest rival at the time, who had been greed you from Britain, the Hapsburgs and France during the war of succession, is also true that during the war Spain modernized its cumbersome system of government from council ministries, brought an end to the autonomy of Catalonia, Aragon and his indomitable clear that this amounted to no improvement compared to losses of Utrecht, which had taken its empire in Europe, Naples, Milan, Sardinia and the English Netherlands passed at the hands of the Habsburgs of Austria, Sicily passed into the hands of the Duke of Savoy, Britain annexed the island of Gibraltar and Minorca all of this reduction was apparent as Spain was stronger than before, managed to better governance and less coveted was found by his enemies and facing fewer conflicts. England was then the third European power and was the one who had a faster development, civil wars last century and the revolution of 1688 had transformed and made it difficult to govern, by the end of the seventeenth century had established itself as the largest naval power in the world which enabled a major expansion of its overseas trade and now with Menorca and Gibraltar as a Mediterranean power was assured, another pillar was financial strength that gave him standing in front of their revolt. One case is that of the Dutch Republic, with its complex political structure and decentralized their disunity will only increase the enmity embodied by the monarchical tendencies of the House of Orange and the republican forces of urban patricians of Amsterdam, the death of William III of Orange was the beginning of a long period of Republican dominance and a decline in international influence in its industry, commerce and naval power, which was distant from the English, but also remained the main focus of business European financial. Russia, Eastern power and most important newcomer to the European stage and that time would to be a great power, Peter the Great acquired a dominant position in Poland and a major influence in Northern Germany and the Baltic. Unfortunately had profound limitations, it was a poor, undeveloped, desperately short of capital and skilled labor and very inadequate internal communications, this is compounded by the hostility of the religious conservatives who were wary of policies greater presence and integration with Western Europe, but Peter was able to introduce major changes, had a big army and navy rapidly growing allowing him to negotiate on equal with any ruling. The south-eastern Europe was still under Ottoman rule daemon, a heterogeneous state and difficult to govern and that was in decline, his forces were no longer the terror posed to its neighbors during the sixteenth century, this had been demonstrated in the victorious war against Austria (1716), in the commercial spectrum continued as a mere supplier of raw materials, trade in the hands of privileged foreigners, mostly French, the priestly caste, ultra conservative and monopolizing education and strongly opposed effectively to all foreign innovation, reduction of the central government gives increased threat of destruction of their difficult political unit that caught the attention of governments and fueled his desire Christians sharing. The Habsburg territories for 1713 were not a state and were with few skills to compete in the European theater, the allowance system, its national heterogeinedad enhanced by diplomatic and military successes and its distinctive antagonism among government agencies hindered more even the possibilities of reform, the title of Holy Roman Emperor had been held continuously by the family, which theoretically title remained the largest in Europe, but the dynasty's power rested on their hereditary domains in central Europe, with most part of the German states were coming to him for protection against attacks from outside the boundaries of the Holy Empire, so the emperor needed to be militarily strong but their territories, most were poor and backward and accentuated the inability raise administrative resources, in any case were a monarchy powerful but archaic and undeveloped. Sweden had been destroyed by Russia during the 1700-21 war, peace, allowed him to keep Finland and part of Pomerania, but was no longer a second state, after the death of Charles XII (1718) was enacted constitution that flatly limited powers of the monarchy absolute. The reformation and Thirty Years War, the foreign interference, especially from France, completed the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire, which took centuries in the process, the major German states (Saxony, Bavaria, Brandenburg-Prussia and the Palatinate) and could ignore the imperial authority, but these were outside the colonial deals and the benefits of expanded international trade. Brandenburg-Prussia was poised to be the largest German state, that for 1780-90 was a conglomerate of political units that reached a significant administrative development which contrasted with the collapse of Poland, where the power of veto prevented administrative deliberation he joined the deterioration that had meant the Great Northern War developed in its territory, that for 1717 meant the end of the state having fallen prey to their more powerful neighbors. Italy was another source of weakness and division but not compared to Germany and the chaotic Poland, the Papal state, badly governed for generations was one of the poorest and most backward parts of Italy, the figure of the Pope was increasingly unable to influence European policies. In addition to the eighteenth century Europe we find a completely asymmetric in power and resources, totally heterogeneous, where France was undoubtedly the greatest of all state, followed by Britain and Russia, then Austria of the Habsburgs and the rise pseudo German states followed by a series of states middle with some influence as were Sweden and the Netherlands. The European system consisted of a series of partial and local equilibrium gradually were immersed in a larger one that included the American colonies and placed as an important ingredient and can break the balance, although this was only a guess because would fail to meet even with a more active Atlantic political and even more for a global policy, Europe continued to maintain a traditional system of government that supported decentralization favored by poor communications.
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