'The Confederation of the Rhine' or Rhine Confederation (; ) lasted from
1806 to
1813 and was formed initially from 16
German states by
Napoleon after he defeated Austria's
Francis II and Russia's
Alexander I in the
Battle of Austerlitz. The
Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the
Rhine.
The members of the confederation were German princes (''
Fürsten'') from the
Holy Roman Empire, and so technically not heads of state of their states as such. They were later joined by 19 others, altogether ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to
France on its eastern front.
Formation
On
12 July 1806, on signing the ''Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine'' (), 16 states in present-day Germany formally left the Holy Roman Empire and joined together in a
confederation (the treaty called it the ''états confédérés du Rhin''). Napoleon was its "protector." On
6 August, following an ultimatum by Napoleon,
Francis II gave up his title of Emperor and declared the
Holy Roman Empire dissolved. In the years that followed, 23 more German states joined the Confederation; Francis'
Habsburg dynasty would rule the remainder of the empire as Austria. Only
Austria,
Prussia, Danish
Holstein, and Swedish
Pomerania stayed outside, not counting the west bank of the Rhine and
Erfurt, which were annexed by the French empire.
According to the treaty, the confederation was to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states (in particular the larger ones) wanted unlimited
sovereignty.
Instead of a monarchical
head of state, as the Holy Roman Emperor had been, its highest office was held by
Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the former Arch Chancellor, who now bore the title of a
Prince-Primate of the confederation. As such, he was President of the College of Kings and presided over the ''
Diet of the Confederation,'' a parliament-like body that, however, never assembled.
The Confederation was above all a military alliance: the members had to supply
France with large numbers of military personnel. In return for their cooperation some state rulers were given higher statuses:
Baden,
Hesse,
Cleves, and
Berg were made into
grand duchies, and
Württemberg and
Bavaria became kingdoms. States could also be made larger by incorporating the many smaller "
Kleinstaaten," or small former imperial member states.
After Prussia lost to France in 1806, many medium-sized and small states joined the Rheinbund. It was at its largest in
1808, including four kingdoms, five grand duchies, 13
duchies, seventeen
principalities, and the Free
Hansa towns of
Hamburg,
Lübeck, and
Bremen.
In
1810 large parts of northwest Germany were quickly incorporated into the
Napoleonic Empire in order to better monitor the
trade embargo with
Great Britain, the
Continental System.
In
1813, when Napoleon's campaign in the
Russian Empire failed and some of its members changed sides, the Confederation of the Rhine collapsed.
Member monarchies (alphabetically)

Member states of the Confederation of the Rhine,1812
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Anhalt
Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg joined
15 December 1806
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Anhalt
Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau joined
15 December 1806
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Anhalt
Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen joined
15 December 1806
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Arenberg
Duchy of Arenberg co-founder
25 July 1806
★
.svg.png)
Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden co-founder
25 July 1806
★
.svg.png)
Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria co-founder
25 July 1806, formerly a
duchy
★

Berg
Grand Duchy of Berg co-founder
25 July 1806 (absorbs Cleves, both formerly duchies)
★

Hesse-Darmstadt
Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt co-founder
25 July 1806, formerly a
landgraviate
★

Hohenzollern
Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen co-founder
25 July 1806
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Hohenzollern
Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen co-founder
25 July 1806
★

Isenburg
Principality of Isenburg-Birstein co-founder
25 July 1806
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Leyen
Principality of Leyen co-founder
25 July 1806 (formerly
countship or graviate)
★

Liechtenstein
Principality of Liechtenstein co-founder
25 July 1806
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Lippe
Principality of Lippe-Detmold joined
15 December 1806
★
.svg.png)
Abp Mainz
Archbishopric of Mainz (Mayence) co-founder
25 July 1806, formerly
Prince-Archbishopric and
Electorate; after
1810 the

Frankfurt
Grand Duchy of Frankfurt
★

Mecklenburg
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined
15 December 1806
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Mecklenburg
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz joined
15 December 1806
★
.svg.png)
Nassau
Duchy of Nassau (Usingen and Weilburg) resulting from the union
★ of the Principalities of

Missing image
Nassau-Usingen and

Nassau-Weilburg
Nassau-Weilburg, co-founders (
25 July 1806)
★
★
★

Oldenburg
Duchy of Oldenburg joined
15 December 1806
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Reuß ältere Linie
Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf joined
15 December 1806
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Reuß ältere Linie
Principality of Reuss-Greiz joined
15 December 1806
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Reuß jüngere Linie
Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein joined
15 December 1806
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Reuß jüngere Linie
Principality of Reuss-Schleiz joined
15 December 1806
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Missing image
Principality of Salm (Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg) co-founders
25 July 1806 ★
★
★
.svg.png)
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg joined
15 December 1806
★
.svg.png)
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Duchy of Saxe-Gotha joined
15 December 1806
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Missing image
Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen joined
15 December 1806
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Saxe-Meiningen
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen joined
15 December 1806
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Missing image
Duchy of Saxe-Weimar joined
15 December 1806
★
.svg.png)
Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony joined
11 December 1806
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Schaumburg
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe joined
15 December 1806
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Schwarzburg
Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt joined
15 December 1806
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Schwarzburg
Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen joined
15 December 1806
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.svg.png)
Waldeck
Principality of Waldeck joined
15 December 1806
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Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia last to join,
15 November 1807
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Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg co-founder
25 July 1806
★
.svg.png)
Würzburg
Grand Duchy of Würzburg joined
15 September 1806
Aftermath
After the dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine, the only attempt at political coordination in Germany until the creation on
21 October 1813 of the German Confederation was a body called the Central Administration Council (); its President was
Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein (1757 – 1831). It was dissolved on
20 June 1815.
On
30 May 1814 the
Treaty of Paris declared the German states independent.
In
1815 the
Congress of Vienna redrew the continent's political map. In fact, only minor changes were made to inner-German borders, and the resulting
German Confederation consisted more or less of the same members as the Confederation of the Rhine.
See also
★
History of Germany
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West Germany
★
List of German monarchs
Sources, References and External links
★ http://www.napoleonguide.com/confed_rhine.htm Napoleon Guide, Confederation of the Rhine
★
WorldStatesmen- Germany/ Confederation of the Rhine