Confederation of the Rhine

The Confédération of the Rhine ( German Rheinbund in ) existed of 1806 with 1813 and was made of 16 German states by Napoleon after it had demolishes François II and Alexandre I {{er}}, at the time of the battle of the three emperors with Austerlitz.

The members of the confederation are German princes ( Fürsten ) of the Saint Empire. The number of the States will pass later to 35 which will gather 15 million subjects, thus providing a significant strategic advantage to the France on its Eastern borders.

Formation

The July 12th 1806, with the signature of the treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine, 16 States leave the Saint Empire and form the confederation (called in the treaty “confederated States of the Rhine”). Napoleon is the “guard”. The August 6th, obeying an ultimatum of Napoleon, François II gives up his title of emperor and dissolves the Saint Empire. In the year which follows, 23 other German States unite the Confederation. Only the Austria, the Prussia, the Holstein and the Poméranie remain outwards. Charles Theodore de Dalberg, the Large duke of Frankfurt combined Napoleon, becomes president and prince primacy of the confederation.

The confederation is especially a military alliance. The Member States must provide to France a great number of military personnel. In return the States receive higher statutes: Bade, Hesse, Clèves and Berg is transformed into Grand Duchies. The Wurtemberg and the Bavaria become kingdoms. For their co-operation certain States incorporate small imperial fields.

According to the treaty, the confederation should have been controlled by a common constitution, but the various States (in particular largest) prefer to keep to them Souveraineté.

Many small and average States join the Confederation which is with its apogee in 1808. It includes/understands four kingdoms, five Grand-Duchies, thirteen Duché S, seventeen Principauté S and the Hanseatic cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen. In 1810, great areas of the North-West of Germany are quickly incorporated in the Empire in order to improve the continental Blocus against England.

Into 1813, with the failure of the countryside of Russia, some of the Member States change camp, the confederation of the Rhine crumbles. The May 30th 1814, the Traité of Paris declares the States German independent. In 1815, the Congrès of Vienna redraws the political map of the continent. In fact, only some minor changes are made at the internal borders of Germany, and the Germanic Confédération resulting takes again about the same members as the confederation of the Rhine.

Member States

See too

External bonds

  • http://www.napoleonguide.com/confed_rhine.htm Napoleon Guides, Confederation off the Rhine
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