All Topics  
Confederation of the Rhine

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Confederation of the Rhine
 
 
  Topics Confederation of the Rhine Topic Home

The Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation (; ) was a client state
Client state

Client state is one of several terms used to describe the subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs. It is the least specific of these terms and may be treated as a broad category which includes satellite state, puppet state, neo-colony, protectorate, vassal state and tributary state....
 of the First French Empire
First French Empire

The Empire of the French , also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France in France....
. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
 after he defeated Austria's Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon I of France at the Battle of Austerlitz....
 and Russia's Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , also known as Alexander the Blessed served as Tsar of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and Ruler of Poland from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland....
 in the Battle of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon I of France greatest victories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the First French Empire....
. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine
Rhine

File:Swiss Grand Canyon.jpgThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
. It lasted from 1806 to 1813.

The members of the confederation were German princes (Fürst
Fürst

is a German nobility, usually translated into English language as Prince.The term refers to the head of a principality and is distinguished from the son of a monarch, which is referred to as Prinz....
en) from the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
, and so technically not heads of state of their states as such.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Confederation of the Rhine'
Start a new discussion about 'Confederation of the Rhine'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation (; ) was a client state
Client state

Client state is one of several terms used to describe the subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs. It is the least specific of these terms and may be treated as a broad category which includes satellite state, puppet state, neo-colony, protectorate, vassal state and tributary state....
 of the First French Empire
First French Empire

The Empire of the French , also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France in France....
. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
 after he defeated Austria's Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon I of France at the Battle of Austerlitz....
 and Russia's Alexander I
Alexander I of Russia

Alexander I of Russia , also known as Alexander the Blessed served as Tsar of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and Ruler of Poland from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland....
 in the Battle of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon I of France greatest victories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition against the First French Empire....
. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine
Rhine

File:Swiss Grand Canyon.jpgThe Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at , with an average discharge of more than ....
. It lasted from 1806 to 1813.

The members of the confederation were German princes (Fürst
Fürst

is a German nobility, usually translated into English language as Prince.The term refers to the head of a principality and is distinguished from the son of a monarch, which is referred to as Prinz....
en) from the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
, 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.

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
Confederation

Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense , foreign affairs, or a common currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all members....
 (the treaty called it the , with a precursor in the League of the Rhine
League of the Rhine

The League of the Rhine was a defensive union of more than 50 German f?rst and their cities along the River Rhine, formed in 14 August 1658 by Louis XIV of France and negotiated by Cardinal Mazarin , Hugues de Lionne and Johann Philipp von Sch?nborn ....
). Napoleon was its "protector." On 6 August, following an ultimatum by Napoleon, Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon I of France at the Battle of Austerlitz....
 gave up his title of Emperor and declared the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
 dissolved. In the years that followed, 23 more German states joined the Confederation; Francis's Habsburg
Habsburg

The House of Habsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known as supplying all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of Spanish Empire and the Austrian Empire....
 dynasty would rule the remainder of the empire as Austria. Only Austria, Prussia
Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
, Danish Holstein
Holstein

Holstein is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider River. It is part of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of Germany.Holstein once existed as the County of Holstein , the later Duchy of Holstein , and was the northernmost territory of the Holy Roman Empire....
, and Swedish Pomerania
Pomerania

Pomerania is a historical region on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdansk in the East....
 stayed outside, not counting the west bank of the Rhine and Principality of Erfurt
Principality of Erfurt

The Principality of Erfurt existed from 1806 to 1814 and included Erfurt and the surrounding land, including the Grafschaft Blankenhain. It was subordinate directly to the Emperor of the French....
, 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
Sovereignty

File:Leviathan gr.jpgSovereignty is the exclusive right to control a government, a State, a people, or oneself. A sovereign is a supreme lawmaking authority....
.

Instead of a monarchical head of state
Head of State

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political 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
Diet (assembly)

In politics, a diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is derived from Medieval Latin dietas, and ultimately comes from the Latin dies, "day"....
 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
Hesse

Hesse is a States of Germany of Germany with an area of 21,110 km? and just over six million inhabitants. The state capital is Wiesbaden. Hesse's largest city is nearby Frankfurt am Main....
, Cleves, and Berg were made into grand duchies
Grand duchy

A grand duchy is a territory whose head of state is a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess.The only grand duchy in existence today is Luxembourg. It has been a grand duchy since 1815 when the Netherlands became an independent kingdom and Luxembourg was handed over to the King of the Netherlands, William I of the Netherlands....
, and Württemberg
Württemberg

W?rttemberg [], formerly known as Wirtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
 and Bavaria
Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
 became kingdoms. States were also made larger by incorporating the many smaller "Kleinstaaten
Kleinstaaterei

is a German language word, mainly used for the political situation in Germany and neighbouring regions during the Holy Roman Empire. It refers to the large number of small states and city-states, some of which were little larger than a single town; see List of Reichstag participants for a list as of that year....
," 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
Duchy

A duchy is a territory, fiefdom, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereignty in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era ....
, seventeen principalities
Principality

A principality is a monarchy feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....
, and the Free Hansa
Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was an Military alliance of Trade cities and their guilds that established and maintained trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and Early modern period ....
 towns of Hamburg
Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
, Lübeck, and Bremen
Bremen (state)

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen is the smallest of Germany's 16 States of Germany . A more informal name, but used in some official contexts, is Land 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
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927....
, the Continental System
Continental System

The Continental System was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland during the Napoleonic Wars....
.

The Confederation of the Rhine collapsed in 1813, with the aftermath of Napoleon's failed campaign against the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
. 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
War of the Sixth Coalition

In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austrian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and a number of Confederation of the Rhine finally defeated First French Empire and drove Napoleon I of France into exile on Elba....
.

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.

Flag Member monarchy Year joined Notes
Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt
 (700)
Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt
 (700)
Flagge Herzogtum Anhalt
 (700)
Co-founder (4000)
Co-founder; former margraviate (8000)
Flag of Bavaria (striped)
 Co-founder; former duchy
Duchy

A duchy is a territory, fiefdom, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereignty in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era ....
 (30,000)
Co-founder; absorbed Cleves
Duchy of Cleves

The Duchy of Cleves was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in present Germany and the Netherlands . Its territory was situated on both sides of the river Rhine, around its capital Cleves and roughly covering today's Cleves , Wesel and the City of Duisburg....
, both formerly Duchies (2000)
Co-founder; former landgraviate
Landgrave

Landgrave was a title only used in the Holy Roman Empire and later on by its former territories. The title refers to a count who had feudal duty directly to the Holy Roman Emperor....
 (4000)
Co-founder (4000)
Co-founder (4000)
Co-founder (4000)
Co-founder; former countship
Graf

Graf is a historical German nobility title equal in rank to a count or a British earl . A derivation ultimately from the Greek verb graphein 'to write' may be fanciful: Paul the Deacon wrote in Latin ca 790: "the count of the Bavarians that they call gravio who governed Bolzano and other strongholds?" ; this may be read to make...
 or graviate (4000)
Liechtenstein Coa
 Co-founder (4000)
(650)
Co-founder; formerly Prince-Archbishopric and Electorate
Prince-elector

The Prince-Electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of Imperial election the Holy Roman Emperors....
; after 1810 the
Wappen Frankfurt
Grand Duchy of Frankfurt
Grand Duchy of Frankfurt

The Grand Duchy of Frankfurt was a German satellite state of Napoleonic creation. It came into existence in 1810 through the combination of the former Archbishopric of Mainz along with the Imperial city of Free City of Frankfurt itself....
(1900)
(400)
* Union of
Sin Escudo
Nassau-Usingen
Nassau-Usingen

Nassau-Usingen was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Upper Rhenish Circle that became a principality in 1688.The origin of the county lies in the medieval county of Weilnau that was acquired by the counts of Nassau-Weilburg in 1602....
 and
Flag of Nassau Weilburg
Nassau-Weilburg, both co-founders (4000 each)
(800)
(400)
(400)
(400)
(400)
Sin Escudo
 Co-founder (4000)
Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen Coburg Gotha (1911 1920)
 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Flagge Herzogtum Sachsen Coburg Gotha (1911 1920)
 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Sin Escudo
 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
(part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Sin Escudo
 (part of 2000 for Saxe duchies)
Former duchy
Duchy

A duchy is a territory, fiefdom, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereignty in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era ....
 (20,000)
(650)
(650)
(650)
Flag of Germany (2 3)
 (400)
Napoleonic creation (25,000)
Co-founder; former duchy
Duchy

A duchy is a territory, fiefdom, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereignty in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era ....
 (12,000)
Napoleonic creation (2000)


Aftermath

The allies
War of the Sixth Coalition

In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austrian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Sweden, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and a number of Confederation of the Rhine finally defeated First French Empire and drove Napoleon I of France into exile on Elba....
 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 ; its President was Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein
Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein

Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein , commonly known as Baron vom Stein, was a Prussian statesman who introduced reforms that paved the way for the unification of Germany....
 (1757 – 1831). It was dissolved on 20 June 1815.

On 30 May 1814 the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1814)

The Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May, 1814, ended the war between France and the Sixth Coalition.The Treaty of Paris of 1814 was one of two which ended the wars of the Napoleonic era....
 declared the German states independent.

In 1815, the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815....
 redrew the continent's political map. In fact, most surviving members had only minor border changes, and the resulting German Confederation
German Confederation

The German Confederation was the association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to serve as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, which had been abolished in 1806....
 consisted more or less of the same members as the Confederation of the Rhine.

See also

  • History of Germany
    History of Germany

    Despite the lack of a German nation state before 1871, the countrydates back to the era of the Germanic tribes. Following the migration period, the Franks subsequently subdued the West Germanic tribes, who made up for most of East Francia after the Frankish Empire fell apart....
  • West Germany
    West Germany

    West Germany was the common English name for the Germany , from its formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when East Germany was dissolved and its States of Germany became part of the Federal Republic, ending the more than 40-year division of Germany....
  • List of German monarchs
    List of German monarchs

    This article lists the German monarchs, ruling over the territory of Germany from the creation of a separate East Francia in 843 until the end of German monarchy in 1918....


Sources and external links

  • on Napoleon Guide.com
  • on World Statesmen.org