The King of England, George II (father of the Duke of Cumberland), has every reason to be dissatisfied. Certain of the success of the allied army, he had already taken the road to the continent when he learned of the "disaster" of Fontenoy due, in large part, to the languor of his Dutch allies. There was much discussion about the real motives of Dutch inaction during the Fontenoy day; should we see in this an incapacity of their troops or a real good faith, the latter not having believed themselves useful to support the maneuver of the Duke of Cumberland?
In the French camp, this military success suggests immense diplomatic advantages... unfortunately it will not be.
The day after Fontenoy's victory, the road to Flanders opens and , with it, the stranglehold on the large cities of Tournai, Ghent, Bruges, Oudenaarde and Ostend. The Marshal of Saxe can even set out to conquer the Austrian Netherlands and invade the United Provinces (1747 1748). But the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle*, the following year, had the sole purpose of recognizing the rights of Maria Theresa to the throne of Austria.
Thus, while the great beneficiary of the War of the Austrian Succession is Prussia (which will obtain Silesia), France, for its part, has drawn from the operation except military prestige — no advantage.
These years of belligerence resulted, in fact, in a sharp deterioration in the state of royal finances, in an increase in the misery of the people, rendered physically and fiscally bloodless, and, as evidenced by the two expressions of the time which are transmitted to us, it had been "as stupid as peace", since France had "worked for the King of Prussia"!
In addition, the Treaty of Aix-la- Chapelle did not resolve either of the two great causes of tension then existing in Europe between Austria and Prussia, on the one hand, and France and England, on the other.
The Seven* Years' War was therefore already in the making.
Fontenoy's day remained (and will remain) one of those which are (both thanks to the genius deployed only to the courage of the obscure participants) engraved in gold letters on the frontispiece of a national history.