Maria Theresa resented Austria's exclusion from the talks, and blamed Britain for forcing her to accept concessions, while British politicians felt they had received little benefit for the financial subsidies paid to her.

The death of Philip V of Spain in July 1746 seemed an opportunity to break the Bourbon alliance, while Newcastle hoped the Orangist revolution would revitalise the Dutch war effort, and allow the Allies to recover the Austrian Netherlands.

[1] Both assumptions proved incorrect; Spanish policy remained largely unchanged, the Dutch army collapsed, and Newcastle later berated himself for his "ignorance, obstinacy, and credulity".

[2] However, despite French victories in Flanders, the impact of the British naval blockade was such that throughout 1746, Finance Minister Machault repeatedly warned Louis XV of the impending collapse of their financial system.

[14] Administrative and financial reforms made it stronger in 1750 than 1740, while its strategic position was strengthened by installing Habsburgs as rulers of key territories in Northwest Germany, the Rhineland and Northern Italy.

[15] The Spanish considered their territorial gains in Italy inadequate, failed to recover Menorca or Gibraltar, and viewed the reassertion of British commercial rights in the Americas as an insult.

The war confirmed the decline of the Dutch Republic as a great power, and exposed the weakness of their Barrier forts, which proved unable to stand up to modern artillery.

[2] Few Frenchmen understood the desperate financial state that required the return of their gains in the Austrian Netherlands; combined with the lack of tangible benefits for helping Prussia, it led to the phrase "as stupid as the Peace".

In the 1752 Treaty of Aranjuez, Austria, Spain and Sardinia agreed to respect each other's boundaries in Italy, ending conflict in this region for nearly fifty years, and allowing Maria Theresa to focus on Germany.