Confederation of the Rhine

Confederation of the Rhine Rheinbund (de) États confédérés du Rhin (fr)
Confederation of Client states of the French Empire
← 1806–1813 →
Flag Imperial Standard
The Confederation of the Rhine in 1812.
Capital		Frankfurt
Languages		German, French
Political structure		Confederation
Protector
-	1806–1813	Napoleon I
Prince-Primate
-	1806–1813	Karl von Dalberg
-	1813	Eugène de Beauharnais
Legislature		Diet of the Confederation
Historical era		Napoleonic Wars
-	Battle of Austerlitz	12 July 1806
-	Holy Roman Empire dissolved	6 August 1806
-	Battle of Leipzig	4 November 1813
-	Treaty of Paris	30 May 1814
Today part of		Austria Czech Republic Germany Italy Liechtenstein Poland

The Confederation of the Rhine (German: Rheinbund; French: États confédérés du Rhin, officially "Confederated States of the Rhine", but in practice Confédération du Rhin) was a confederation of client states of the First French Empire. It 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. It lasted from 1806 to 1813.

The members of the confederation were German princes (Fürsten) from the Holy Roman Empire. They were later joined by 19 others, all together ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern front.

Formation

On 12 July 1806, on signing the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine (German: Rheinbundakte), 16 states in present-day Germany joined together in a confederation (the treaty called it the états confédérés du Rhin, with a precursor in the League of the Rhine). Napoleon was its "protector". On 1 August, the members of the confederation formally seceded from the Holy Roman Empire, and on 6 August, following an ultimatum by Napoleon, Francis II declared the Holy Roman Empire dissolved. Francis's Habsburg dynasty would rule the remainder of the empire as Austria.

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, designed to be a parliament-like body though it never actually assembled. The President of the Council of the Princes was the Prince of Nassau-Usingen.

The Confederation was above all a military alliance: the members had to maintain substantial armies for mutual defense and 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 were also made larger by incorporating the many smaller "Kleinstaaten", or small former imperial member states. As events played out, however, the members of the confederation found themselves more subordinated to Napoleon than they had been to the Habsburgs.

After Prussia lost to France in 1806, Napoleon cajoled most of the secondary states of Germany into the Rheinbund. Eventually, an additional 23 German states joined the Confederation. It was at its largest in 1808, when it included 36 states-- four kingdoms, five grand duchies, 13 duchies, seventeen principalities, and the Free Hansa towns of Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bremen. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein, and Swedish Pomerania stayed outside, not counting the west bank of the Rhine and Principality of Erfurt, which were annexed by the French empire.

In 1810 large parts of northwest Germany were quickly annexed to France in order to better monitor the trade embargo with Great Britain, the Continental System.

The Confederation of the Rhine collapsed in 1813, with the aftermath of Napoleon's failed campaign against the Russian Empire. Many of its members changed sides after the Battle of Leipzig, when it became apparent Napoleon would lose the War of the Sixth Coalition.

Member monarchies

The following table shows the members of the confederation, with their date of joining, as well as the number of troops provided, listed in parentheses.

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Member states of the Confederation of the Rhine, 1806.

Member states of the Confederation of the Rhine, 1808.

Member states of the Confederation of the Rhine, 1812.

The College of Kings

Flag	Member monarchy	Year joined	Notes
	Baden !Grand Duchy of Baden	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; former margraviate (8,000)
	Bavaria !Kingdom of Bavaria	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; former duchy (30,000)
	Berg !Grand Duchy of Berg	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; absorbed Cleves, both formerly Duchies (5,000)
	Hesse !Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; former landgraviate (4,000)
	Regensburg !Principality of Regensburg	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; formerly Prince-Archbishopric and Electorate; after 1810 the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt
	Saxony !Kingdom of Saxony	01806-12-1111 Dec 1806	Former duchy (20,000)
	Westphalia !Kingdom of Westphalia	01807-11-1515 Nov 1807	Napoleonic creation (25,000)
	Württemberg !Kingdom of Württemberg	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; former duchy (12,000)
	Würzburg !Grand Duchy of Würzburg	01806-09-2323 Sep 1806	Napoleonic creation (2,000)

The College of Princes

Flag	Member monarchy	Year joined	Notes
	Anhalt-Bernburg !Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(700)
	Anhalt-Dessau !Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(700)
	Anhalt-Köthen !Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(700)
	Arenburg !Duchy of Arenberg	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; mediatized 13 December 1810 (4000)
	Hohenzollern-Hechingen !Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder (4000)
	Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen !Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder (4000)
	Isenburg !Principality of Isenburg-Birstein	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder (4000)
	Leyen !Principality of Leyen	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder; former countship or graviate (4000)
	Liechtenstein !Principality of Liechtenstein	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806	Co-founder (4000)
	Lippe !Principality of Lippe-Detmold	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(650)
	Mecklenburg-Schwerin !Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin	01808-03-2222 Mar 1808	(1900)
	Mecklenburg-Strelitz !Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz	01808-02-1818 Feb 1808	(400)
	Nassau !Duchy of Nassau (Usingen and Weilburg)	01806-07-1212 Jul 1806*	Union of Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg, both co-founders (4000 each)
	Oldenburg !Duchy of Oldenburg	01808-10-1414 Oct 1808	annexed by France 13 December 1810 (800)
	Reuss-Ebersdorf !Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(400)
	Reuss-Greiz !Principality of Reuss-Greiz	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(400)
	Reuss-Lobenstein !Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(400)
	Reuss-Schleiz !Principality of Reuss-Schleiz	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(400)
	Salm !Principality of Salm (Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg)	01806-07-2525 Jul 1806	Co-founder; annexed by France 13 December 1810 (4000)
	Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld !Duchy of Saxe-Coburg	01806-12-1515 Dec 1806	(Saxon duchies total 2000)
	Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg !Duchy of Saxe-Gotha	01806-12-1515 Dec 1806
	Saxe-Hildburghausen !Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen	01806-12-1515 Dec 1806
	Saxe-Meiningen !Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen	01806-12-1515 Dec 1806
	Saxe-Weimar !Duchy of Saxe-Weimar	01806-12-1515 Dec 1806
	Schaumburg !Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(650)
	Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt !Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(650)
	Schwarzburg-Sondershausen !Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(650)
	Waldeck !Principality of Waldeck	01807-04-1111 Apr 1807	(400)

Aftermath

Flag of the Confederation of the Rhine

The allies opposing Napoleon dissolved the Confederation of the Rhine 4 November 1813. After its demise, the only attempt at political coordination in Germany until the creation on 8 June 1815 of the German Confederation was a body called the Central Administration Council (German: Zentralverwaltungsrat); 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, most surviving members had only minor border changes, and the resulting German Confederation consisted more or less of the same members as the Confederation of the Rhine, with the important addition of the two German great powers of Austria and Prussia.

See also

• League of the Rhine
• History of Germany
• West Germany
• List of German monarchs
• List of French possessions and colonies

Sources and external links

• Confederation of the Rhine on Napoleon Guide.com
• Confederation of the Rhine on World Statesmen.org