The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe from 1815 to 1866. It was created by the Congress of Vienna to replace the Holy Roman Empire, which dissolved in 1806 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Confederation had only one organ, the Bundesversammlung, or Federal Convention (also Federal Assembly or Confederate Diet). The Convention consisted of the representatives of the member states. The most important issues had to be decided unanimously. The Convention was presided over by the representative of Austria, but this was a formality, as the Confederation had no head of state, since it was not a state.
The Confederation was a strong alliance among its member states because federal law was superior to state law. (The decisions of the Federal Convention were binding for the member states.)Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789 . Vol. I: Reform und Restauration 1789 bis 1830. 2nd ed., Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1967, pp. 601–602. Additionally, the Confederation had been established for eternity and was impossible to dissolve (legally), with no member states able to leave it and no new member able to join without universal consent in the Federal Convention. But the Confederation was weakened by its very structure and member states, partly because its most important decisions required unanimity and the purpose of the Confederation was limited to security matters.Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789 . Vol. I: Reform und Restauration 1789 bis 1830. 2nd ed., Verlag W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart [et al.] 1967, pp. 594–595. Moreover, the functioning of the Confederation depended on the cooperation of the two most populous member states, Austria and Prussia, which were often in opposition.
The German revolutions of 1848–1849, motivated by liberal, democratic, socialist, and nationalist sentiments, attempted to transform the Confederation into a unified German federal state with a liberal constitution (usually called the Frankfurt Constitution in English). The Federal Convention dissolved on 12 July 1848 but was reestablished in 1850 after the revolution was crushed by Austria, Prussia, and other states.
The Confederation dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia over the Austrian Empire in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. The dispute over which country would dominate the German states ended in Prussia's favour, leading to the creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867. A number of south German states remained independent until they joined the North German Confederation during the Franco-Prussian War. After the German victory, the Confederation was renamed and proclaimed as the German Empire in 1871. It unified Germany (aside from Austria), with the Prussian king as emperor (Kaiser).
Most historians consider the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective, as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state. This weakness was part of its design, as the European Great Powers, including Prussia and especially Austria, did not want it to become a nation-state. But the Confederation was not a loose tie between the German states, as it was impossible to leave, and as Confederation law stood above the law of the aligned states. Its constitutional weakness lay in the principle of unanimity in the Diet and the limits of the Confederation's scope: it was essentially a military alliance to defend Germany against external attacks and internal riots. The War of 1866 proved its ineffectiveness, as it was unable to combine the federal troops to fight the Prussian secession.Ernst Rudolf Huber: Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789. Band III: Bismarck und das Reich. 3rd ed., W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1988, pp. 559/560.
History Background
The War of the Third Coalition lasted from about 1803 to 1806. Following defeat at the Battle of by the French under Napoleon in December 1805, Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor on 6 August 1806, thus dissolving the Empire. In the aftermath of the Treaty of Napoleon created the Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806, joining 16 of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and ). After the Battle of of October 1806 in the War of the Fourth Coalition, various other German states, including Saxony and Westphalia, also joined the Confederation. Only Austria, Prussia, Danish , Swedish Pomerania, and the French-occupied Principality of Erfurt stayed outside the Confederation of the Rhine. The War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to winter 1814 saw Napoleon's defeat and Germany's liberation. In June 1814, the German patriot Heinrich vom Stein created the Central Managing Authority for Germany (Zentralverwaltungsbehörde) in Frankfurt to replace the defunct Confederation of the Rhine, but plenipotentiaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna were determined to create a weaker union of German states than Stein envisaged.
Establishment and member states
The German Confederation was established by the 20-article 9th Act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815, after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris that ended the War of the Sixth Coalition. The Confederation's final organizational structure and procedures were formally set forth by a more extensive second treaty, the 65-article Final Act of the Ministerial Conferences to Complete and Consolidate the Organization of the German Confederation, which was signed by the parties on 15 May 1820 and ratified by the Confederation on 8 June.
Thirty-nine states participated in the Confederation's June 1815 founding, with two additions by September. After 1815, only two additional territories were added. The Landgraviate of Hesse-Homburg joined in 1817. In 1839, as compensation to the Netherlands for the loss of part of its province of Luxemburg to Belgium, the Duchy of Limburg was created and was admitted to the Confederation. Over the course of the Confederation's 51-year existence, the number of member states gradually diminished, due to the extinction of ruling houses resulting in inheritances and consolidation of territories. Thirty-four member states remained at the time of the final dissolution by the Peace of Prague in August 1866.
+ Member states Category and country Flag Capital Notes Empire (Kaisertum) Austria Vienna Only included the Lands of the Bohemian Crown – Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia – and Austrian lands – Austria, Carinthia, Carniola and the Littoral except Istria; the Duchies of Auschwitz and Zator, parts of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, were only included from 1818 to 1850 Kingdoms (Königreiche) Bavaria Munich Hanover Hanover Ruled by the king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in personal union as its king until 1837. Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 Prussia Berlin The Province of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Posen were only included from 1848 to 1851 Saxony Dresden Württemberg Stuttgart Joined 1 September 1815 Electorate (Kurfürstentum) Hesse Kassel Also known as Hesse-Kassel; annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 Grand Duchies (Großherzogtümer) Baden Karlsruhe Joined 26 July 1815 Hesse and by Rhine Darmstadt Also known as Hesse-Darmstadt Luxembourg Luxembourg Ruled in personal union by the king of the Netherlands as its grand duke Mecklenburg-Schwerin Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Neustrelitz Oldenburg Oldenburg Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Weimar Duchies (Herzogtümer) Anhalt-Bernburg Bernburg Inherited by the duke of Anhalt-Dessau in August 1863 Anhalt-DessauAnhalt (from 1863) Dessau Renamed the Duchy of Anhalt in August 1863 Anhalt-Köthen Köthen Inherited by the duke of Anhalt-Dessau in November 1847; ruled in personal union until merged with Anhalt-Dessau in May 1853 Brunswick Brunswick Holstein Glückstadt Ruled by the king of Denmark in personal union; after defeat in the Second Schleswig War, Denmark ceded it and the Duchy of Schleswig jointly to Austria and Prussia on 30 October 1864; Holstein remained a member of the Confederation but Schleswig did not become a member; both duchies were annexed by Prussia on 24 December 1866 Limburg Maastricht Joined on 5 September 1839 and ruled in personal union by the king of the Netherlands as its duke Nassau Wiesbaden Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Coburg Became Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1826 Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Gotha Partitioned and renamed Saxe-Altenburg in 1826 Saxe-Hildburghausen Hildburghausen Partitioned and disestablished when its ruler became the duke of Saxe-Altenburg in 1826 Saxe-Lauenburg Ratzeburg Ruled by the king of Denmark in personal union as its duke; by the Treaty of Vienna (1864), King Christian IX of Denmark abdicated as duke and ceded the duchy jointly to Prussia and Austria; by the Gastein Convention, Austria ceded its claim to Prussia; in September 1865, William I of Prussia acceded as duke in personal union Saxe-Meiningen Meiningen Principalities (Fürstentümer) Hohenzollern-Hechingen Hechingen Annexed by Prussia in 1850 Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Sigmaringen Annexed by Prussia in 1850 Liechtenstein Vaduz Lippe Detmold Nassau-Weilburg Weilburg Inherited the Duchy of Nassau on 24 March 1816 Nassau-Usingen Usingen Inherited the Duchy of Nassau on 24 March 1816 Reuss-Ebersdorf Ebersdorf Inherited by Reuss-Schleiz in October 1848 Reuss-Greiz Greiz Commonly known as Reuss Elder Line from 1848 Reuss-Lobenstein Lobenstein Inherited by Reuss-Ebersdorf in May 1824 Reuss-Schleiz;Reuss-Gera (from 1848) Schleiz;Gera (from 1848) Commonly known as Reuss Younger Line from 1848 Schaumburg-Lippe Bückeburg Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Rudolstadt Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Sondershausen Waldeck and Pyrmont Arolsen Landgraviate (Landgrafschaft) Hesse-Homburg Bad Homburg Joined 7 July 1817; inherited by Hesse and by Rhine in March 1866; annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 Free Cities(Freie Stadt) Bremen Bremen Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 Hamburg Hamburg Lübeck Lübeck
Summary of membership changes +YearAdditionsLossesMembership181539 original members 391815Baden and Württemberg411816Nassau-Weilburg inherits Nassau-Usingen (Duchy of Nassau)401817Hesse-Homburg411824Reuss-Ebersdorf inherits Reuss-Lobenstein401826Reorganization of the Ernestine duchies: Saxe-Altenburg-Gotha is partitioned; Saxe-Hildburghausen inherits Altenburg and becomes Saxe-Altenburg; Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld obtains Gotha and becomes Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Hildburgshausen and Saalfeld are ceded to Saxe-Meiningen391839Limburg401848Reuss-Schleiz inherits Reuss-Ebersdorf and becomes Reuss-Gera391850Prussia inherits Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen371853Anhalt-Dessau annexes Anhalt-Köthen which it has ruled in personal union since 1847 361863Anhalt-Dessau inherits Anhalt-Bernburg and becomes Anhalt351866Hesse-Darmstadt inherits Hesse-Homburg34
Federal Convention