79 The Confederation of the Rhine
23.2.2: The Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederation of the Rhine was an alliance of various German states that served as a satellite and major military ally of the French Empire with Napoleon as its “Protector,” and was created as a buffer state from any future aggression from Austria, Russia, or Prussia against France.
Learning Objective
Explain how creating the Confederation of the Rhine benefited Napoleon’s long-term goals
Key Points
- The Fourth Coalition (1806–1807) of Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and Britain formed against France within months of the collapse of the previous coalition. Following his triumph at the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz and the subsequent demise of the Third Coalition, Napoleon looked forward to achieving a general peace in Europe, especially with his two main remaining antagonists, Britain and Russia.
- One point of contention was the fate of Hanover, a German electorate in personal union with the British monarchy that had been occupied by France since 1803. Dispute over this state would eventually become a casus belli for both Britain and Prussia against France. This issue also dragged Sweden into the war. The path to war seemed inevitable and the final straw was Napoleon’s formation of the Confederation of the Rhine out of various German states in July 1806.
- The Confederation was a virtual satellite of the French Empire with Napoleon as its “Protector” and was intended to act as a buffer state from any future aggression from Austria, Russia, or Prussia against France (a policy that was an heir of the French revolutionary doctrine of maintaining France’s “natural frontiers”). The formation of the Confederation was the final nail in the coffin of the Holy Roman Empire.
- Napoleon consolidated the various smaller states of the former Holy Roman Empire, which allied with France into larger electorates, duchies, and kingdoms to make the governance of non-Prussian and Austrian Germany more efficient. According to the founding treaty, the confederation was to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states (in particular the larger ones) wanted unlimited sovereignty. In the end, the Confederation was above all a military alliance.
- In return for continued French protection, member states were compelled to supply France with many of their own military personnel and contribute much of the resources to support the French armies still occupying western and southern Germany.
- The Confederation was at its largest in 1808, when it included 35 states and collapsed in 1813, in the aftermath of Napoleon’s failed campaign against the Russian Empire. Many of its members changed sides after the 1813 Battle of Leipzig, when it became apparent Napoleon would lose the War of the Sixth Coalition.
Key Terms
- Confederation of the Rhine
- A confederation of client states of the First French Empire formed by Napoleon in 1806 from 16 German states after he defeated Austria and Russ