Confederation of the Rhine: Encyclopedia II - Confederation of the Rhine - Formation

Confederation of the Rhine - Formation

On 12 July 1806, on signing the Rheinbundakte' — the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine — sixteen imperial estates formally left the Holy Roman Empire and joined together in a confederation (the treaty called it the états confédérés du Rhin). 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, twenty-three more German states joined the Confederation. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish Holstein and Swedish Pomerania stayed outside.

According to the treaty (only official version in French; Rheinbundsakte in German), the confederation was to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states (in particular the larger ones) wanted unlimited sovereignty.

• in stead of a (feudal, rather nominal) Head of state, as the Holy Roman Emperor had been, its highest office was
• Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the Grand Duke of Frankfurt am Main and Napoleon's close ally, was president of the College of Kings, styled Prince-Primate of the confederation, sort of a Head of government.
• The 'Diet of the confederation' (closest thing to a parliament) which Von Dalberg should have called together in Frankfurt am Main never met.

The Confederation was above all a military alliance; the members had to supply France with large numbers of military personnel.

In return the state rulers were given higher statuses: Baden, Hessen, Cleves and Berg were made into grand duchies and Württemberg and Bavaria became kingdoms. For their cooperation states could also be made larger by incorporating smaller imperial estates.

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, thirteen duchies, seventeen principalities and the 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 embargo on trade with Britain, the Continental System.

In 1813, when Napoleon's campaign in Russia failed and some of its members changed sides, the Confederation of the Rhine collapsed.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Formation", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki