Confederation of the Rhine
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The Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation (German: Rheinbund; French: États confédérés du Rhin [officially] Confédération du Rhin [in practice] ) 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, all together ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern front.
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[edit] Formation
On 12 July 1806, on signing the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine (German: Rheinbundakte), 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, with a precursor in the League of the Rhine). 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's 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 parliamentlike 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.
[edit] Member monarchies (alphabetically)
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt.svg Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt.svg Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt.svg Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Wappen aremberg.gif Duchy of Arenberg co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Flagge Großherzogtum Baden (1891-1918).svg Grand Duchy of Baden co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Flag of Bavaria (striped).svg Kingdom of Bavaria co-founder 25 July 1806, formerly a duchy
- Image:Bergischer Loewe.svg Grand Duchy of Berg co-founder 25 July 1806 (absorbs Cleves, both formerly duchies)
- Image:Flagge Großherzogtum Hessen ohne Wappen.svg Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt co-founder 25 July 1806, formerly a landgraviate
- Image:Flag of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Sigmaringen.png Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Flag of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Sigmaringen.png Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Arms-Isenburg.png Principality of Isenburg-Birstein co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Wappen Kobern.png Principality of Leyen co-founder 25 July 1806 (formerly countship or graviate)
- Image:Liechtenstein coa.png Principality of Liechtenstein co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentum Lippe.svg Principality of Lippe-Detmold joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Coat of arms of the Archbishopric of Mainz (1250).svg Archbishopric of Mainz (Mayence) co-founder 25 July 1806, formerly Prince-Archbishopric and Electorate; after 1810 the Image:Wappen-frankfurt.png Grand Duchy of Frankfurt
- Image:Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg.svg Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Großherzogtümer Mecklenburg.svg Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866).svg Duchy of Nassau (Usingen and Weilburg) resulting from the union* of the Principalities of Image:Sin escudo.svg Nassau-Usingen and Image:Flag of Nassau-Weilburg.png Nassau-Weilburg, co-founders (25 July 1806) **
- Image:Oldenburg Flagge.jpg Duchy of Oldenburg joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie.svg Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentum Reuß ältere Linie.svg Principality of Reuss-Greiz joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentum Reuß jüngere Linie.svg Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentum Reuß jüngere Linie.svg Principality of Reuss-Schleiz joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Sin escudo.svg Principality of Salm (Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg) co-founders 25 July 1806 **
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1911-1920).svg Duchy of Saxe-Coburg joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha (1911-1920).svg Duchy of Saxe-Gotha joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Sin escudo.svg Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen-Meiningen.svg Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Sin escudo.svg Duchy of Saxe-Weimar joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Königreich Sachsen (1815-1918).svg Kingdom of Saxony joined 11 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentum Schaumburg-Lippe.svg Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentümer Schwarzburg.svg Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flagge Fürstentümer Schwarzburg.svg Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flag of Germany (2-3).svg Principality of Waldeck joined 15 December 1806
- Image:Flag of the Kingdom of Westphalia.svg Kingdom of Westphalia last to join, 15 November 1807
- Image:Flagge Königreich Württemberg.svg Kingdom of Württemberg co-founder 25 July 1806
- Image:Flagge Großherzogtum Baden (1871-1891).svg Grand Duchy of Würzburg joined 15 September 1806
[edit] 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 (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, 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources, references and external links
- Confederation of the Rhine on Napoleon Guide.com
- Confederation of the Rhine on World Statesmen.org
Client states of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815) | ||||||||||||||
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| French client republics |
| Image:Europe map Napoleon 1811.png | ||||||||||||
| Other Napoleonic creations |
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Image:Flag of France.svg States of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806–13) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rank elevated by Napoleon | Kingdoms: Bavaria | Saxony | Württemberg Grand Duchies: Baden | Hesse | |
| States created | Kingdoms: Westphalia Grand Duchies: Berg | Frankfurt‡ | Würzburg | |
| Pre-existing states | Duchies: Anhalt: Bernburg, Dessau, Köthen | Arenberg | Mecklenburg: Schwerin, Strelitz | Nassau | Oldenburg | Saxony: Coburg-Saalfeld, Gotha-Altenburg, Hildburghausen, Meiningen, Weimar*, Eisenach*, Weimar-Eisenach** Principalities: Hohenzollern: Hechingen, Sigmaringen | Isenburg-Birstein | Liechtenstein | Lippe-Detmold | Reuß: Ebersdorf, Greiz, Lobenstein, Schleiz | Salm: Kyrburg, Salm | Schaumburg-Lippe | Schwarzburg: Rudolstadt, Sondershausen | Waldeck | |
| * until 1809 ** from 1809 † until 1810 ‡ from 1810 | ||
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