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Confederation of the Rhine

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Confederation of the Rhine
 

(1806 – 13) Union of all the states of Germany, except Austria and Prussia, under the aegis of Napoleon. Napoleon's primary interest in the confederation, which enabled the French to unify and dominate the country, was as a counterweight to Austria and Prussia. The confederation was abolished after Napoleon's fall from power, but the consolidation it entailed contributed to the movement for German unification.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: Confederation of the Rhine
Confederation of the Rhine, league of German states formed by Emperor Napoleon I in 1806 after his defeat of the Austrians at Austerlitz. Among its members were the newly created kingdoms of Bavaria and Württenberg (see Pressburg, Treaty of), the grand duchies of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Berg, and a number of other principalities. Eventually nearly all the German states except Austria and Prussia joined the confederation. The members disavowed their allegiance to the Holy Roman Empire, and Francis II, already styled emperor of Austria, relinquished the title Holy Roman emperor in 1806. Napoleon attempted to influence the internal as well as the foreign affairs of the confederation, but recurring international crises diverted his efforts. After Napoleon's retreat from Russia (1812–13), its members, by changing sides in the war, caused the collapse of the confederation.


 
Wikipedia: Confederation of the Rhine
Top
Rheinbund (de)
États confédérés du Rhin (fr)
Confederation of the Rhine
Client state of France

1806–1813
Flag Coat of arms
Flag Rheinbundmedaille
Location of Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine in 1812
Capital Frankfurt
Political structure Client state
Protector Napoleon I
Primate
 - 1806-1813 Karl von Dalberg
 - 1813 Eugène de Beauharnais
Historical era Napoleonic Wars
 - Formation 12 July 1806
 - Holy Roman Empire dissolved 6 August 1806
 - Collapse 4 November 1813

The Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation (German: Rheinbund; French: États confédérés du Rhin officially and Confédération du Rhin in practice) was a client state 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, 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.

Contents

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 Principality of 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 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 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.

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.

The Confederation of the Rhine collapsed in 1813, with the aftermath of Napoleon's failed campaign against the Russian Empire. Much of its members changed sides after the Battle of the Nations, 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 parenthesis.[1]

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Member states of the Confederation of the Rhine,1812
Flag Member monarchy Year joined Notes
Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (700)
Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (700)
Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (700)
Duchy of Arenberg 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder (4000)
Grand Duchy of Baden 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; former margraviate (8000)
Kingdom of Bavaria 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; former duchy (30,000)
Grand Duchy of Berg 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; absorbed Cleves, both formerly Duchies (2000)
Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; former landgraviate (4000)
Principality of Hohenzollern-Hechingen 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder (4000)
Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder (4000)
Principality of Isenburg-Birstein 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder (4000)
Principality of Leyen 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; former countship or graviate (4000)
Principality of Liechtenstein 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder (4000)
Principality of Lippe-Detmold 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (650)
Archbishopric of Mainz 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; formerly Prince-Archbishopric and Electorate; after 1810 the Frankfurt Grand Duchy of Frankfurt
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 01808-03-22 March 22, 1808 (1900)
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 01808-02-18 February 18, 1808 (400)
Duchy of Nassau (Usingen and Weilburg) 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806* Union of Missing image Nassau-Usingen and Nassau-Weilburg Nassau-Weilburg, both co-founders (4000 each)
Duchy of Oldenburg 01808-10-14 October 14, 1808 (800)
Principality of Reuss-Ebersdorf 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (400)
Principality of Reuss-Greiz 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (400)
Principality of Reuss-Lobenstein 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (400)
Principality of Reuss-Schleiz 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (400)
Principality of Salm (Salm-Salm and Salm-Kyrburg) 01806-07-25 July 25, 1806 Co-founder (4000)
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg 01806-12-15 December 15, 1806 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Duchy of Saxe-Gotha 01806-12-15 December 15, 1806 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen 01806-12-15 December 15, 1806 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen 01806-12-15 December 15, 1806 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Duchy of Saxe-Weimar 01806-12-15 December 15, 1806 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Kingdom of Saxony 01806-12-11 December 11, 1806 Former duchy (20,000)
Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (650)
Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (650)
Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (650)
Principality of Waldeck 01807-04-11 April 11, 1807 (400)
Kingdom of Westphalia 01807-11-15 November 15, 1807 Napoleonic creation (25,000)
Kingdom of Württemberg 01806-07-12 July 12, 1806 Co-founder; former duchy (12,000)
Grand Duchy of Würzburg 01806-09-23 September 23, 1806 Napoleonic creation (2000)

Aftermath

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.

See also

References

Sources and external links


 
 

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Confederation of the Rhine" Read more

 

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