Rheinbund

Rheinbund (Confédération du Rhin).The Confederation of the Rhine was set up by the Treaty of Paris, 7 July 1806, by Napoleon I with the object of extending French influence into Germany and neutralizing the power of Austria and Prussia (see Napoleonic Wars).

Napoleon appointed himself president (Protektor) of the Confederation and K. Th. von Dalberg primate (Fürst-Primas). The principal original members of the Confederation were the principality of Berg (newly created from Prussian and Bavarian territory and ruled by Napoleon's Marshal Murat), Bavaria and Württemberg (the rulers of which became kings), Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt (whose princes became Grand Dukes), the duchy of Nassau, and the newly created Grand Duchy of Frankfurt. A number of states of the Holy Roman Empire (see Deutsches Reich, Altes), which was in process of dissolution, were annexed in the scramble for territorial expansion; they included the free cities of Frankfurt, Nuremberg, and Augsburg. The new Grand Duchy of Würzburg joined later in the year, and in 1807. Napoleon's newly formed Kingdom of Westphalia (see Westfalen) became a member state. The defeat of Prussia in October 1806 was followed by the accession of Saxony (now made a kingdom) and of Mecklenburg, together with a number of petty principalities. At its height the Confederation embraced thirty-six German states.

The states of the Confederation were a protectorate of France, and were bound by treaty to furnish substantial contingents of troops for Napoleon's campaigns (63, 000 men in 1806). After the disaster of Napoleon's Russian campaign a sauve qui peut began among the princes of the Rheinbund. The Confederation ceased to exist in 1813.