Confederation of the Rhine

The Confederation of the Rhine was a client state of First French Empire. It existed from 1806 through 1813. Its ruler was Napoleon I of France, called "Protector of the Federation".  It included most of the German states but not the two biggest, Prussia and Austria.  The Confederation of the Rhine was one of the successors of Holy Roman Empire and a predecessor of the German Confederation.  The confederation only lived a few years but it was a precedent for the later unification of Germany.  It temporarily unified many of the diverse German states east of the Rhine River.

During the War of the Third Coaltion (1802-1805) the Battle of Austerlitz (2nd December 1805) became one of the most decisive of the War.  Napoeleon's army of 68,000 defeated the allied force of 90,000.  The Battle saw a total of 21,000 casualties and the remaining allied soldiers dispersed across Czechoslovakia.  On the 12th of July, 1806 (seven months later) the Rhine was confederated by French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte I. 

Napoleon used the Confederation of the Rhine as a political 'buffer zone' against potential threats from Eastern Europe and to spread his egalitarianist and revolutionary views. 

Category:19th century in Germany
Category:Former federations
Category:Former states in Germany
Category:1806 establishments in Europe
Category:1810s disestablishments in Europe
Category:1800s establishments in Germany
Category:19th-century disestablishments in Germany
Category:Puppet states