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The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund, German pronunciation: [ˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃɐ ˈbʊnt] ⓘ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe.[a] It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806 in reaction to the Napoleonic Wars.
The Confederation had only one organ, the 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 on unanimously. The Convention was presided over by the representative of Austria. This was a formality, however, as the Confederation did not have a head of state, since it was not a state.
The Confederation, on the one hand, was a strong alliance between its member states because federal law was superior to state law (the decisions of the Federal Convention were binding for the member states).[2] Additionally, the Confederation had been established for eternity and was impossible to dissolve (legally), with no member states being able to leave it and no new member being able to join without universal consent in the Federal Convention. On the other hand, the Confederation was weakened by its very structure and member states, partly because the most important decisions in the Federal Convention required unanimity and the purpose of the Confederation was limited to only security matters.[3] On top of that, the functioning of the Confederation depended on the cooperation of the two most populous member states, Austria and Prussia which in reality 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 was dissolved on 12 July 1848, but was re-established in 1850 after the revolution was crushed by Austria, Prussia, and other states.[4]
The Confederation was finally dissolved after the victory of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Seven Weeks' War over the Austrian Empire in 1866. The dispute over which had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia, leading to the creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867, to which the eastern portions of the Kingdom of Prussia were added. A number of South German states remained independent until they joined the North German Confederation, which was renamed and proclaimed as the "German Empire" in 1871, as the unified Germany (aside from Austria) with the Prussian king as emperor (Kaiser) after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
Most historians have judged the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective, as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state.[5] 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. However, the Confederation was not a 'loose' tie between the German states, as it was impossible to leave the Confederation, and as Confederation law stood above the law of the aligned states. The constitutional weakness of the Confederation 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. Ironically, the War of 1866 proved its ineffectiveness, as it was unable to combine the federal troops in order to fight the Prussian secession.[6]
History
Background
The War of the Third Coalition lasted from about 1803 to 1806. Following defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz by the French under Napoleon in December 1805, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicated, and the Empire was dissolved on 6 August 1806. The resulting Treaty of Pressburg established the Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806, joining sixteen of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg). After the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt 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 Holstein, 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 the defeat of Napoleon and the liberation of Germany. In June 1814, the famous German patriot Heinrich vom Stein created the Central Managing Authority for Germany (Zentralverwaltungsbehörde) in Frankfurt to replace the defunct Confederation of the Rhine. However, plenipotentiaries gathered at the Congress of Vienna were determined to create a weaker union of German states than envisaged by Stein.
Establishment
The German Confederation was created by the 9th Act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris, ending the War of the Sixth Coalition.[7]
The Confederation was formally created by a second treaty, the Final Act of the Ministerial Conference to Complete and Consolidate the Organization of the German Confederation. This treaty was not concluded and signed by the parties until 15 May 1820. States joined the German Confederation by becoming parties to the second treaty. The states designated for inclusion in the Confederation were:
| Flag | Member State | Notes |
|---|---|---|
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Anhalt-Bernburg | Inherited by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau in 1863 |
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Anhalt-Dessau | |
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Anhalt-Köthen | Inherited by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau in 1847; merged with Anhalt-Dessau in 1853 |
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Austrian Empire | Only a part that included the Crown of Bohemia – Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia – and Austrian lands – Austria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Littoral except Istria;[citation needed] the Duchies of Auschwitz and Zator, part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, were also members in 1818–1850 |
|
Baden | |
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Bavaria | |
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Brunswick | |
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Hanover | Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 |
|
Electorate of Hesse | Also known as Hesse-Kassel; annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 |
|
Grand Duchy of Hesse | Also known as Hesse-Darmstadt |
|
Hesse-Homburg | Joined in 1817; inherited by the grand-duke of Hesse-Darmstadt in March 1866; annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 |
|
Hohenzollern-Hechingen | Became part of Prussia in 1850 |
|
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Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen | Became part of Prussia in 1850 |
|
Holstein | Held by Danish kings in personal union since 15th century as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire; on 28 November 1863, the Federal Assembly removed the Danish delegate pending resolution of the succession issue and the naming of a new delegate from a government recognized by the Assembly; Denmark subsequently ceded it and Sleswig jointly to Austria and Prussia on 30 October 1864 as a result of the Second Schleswig War; the duchy technically remained in the Confederation pending final resolution of its status; Sleswig did not become a member in the short time between this war and the dissolution of the Confederation; both duchies were annexed by Prussia on 24 December 1866 |
|
Liechtenstein | |
|
Limburg | With the Dutch King being the Duke |
|
Lippe-Detmold | |
|
Luxembourg | With the Dutch King being the Grand Duke |
|
Mecklenburg-Schwerin | |
|
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Mecklenburg-Strelitz | |
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Nassau | Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 |
|
Oldenburg | |
|
Prussia | The Province of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Posen were only federal territory in 1848–1850 |
|
Reuss, elder line | |
|
Reuss, junior line | |
|
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld | Became Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1826 |
|
Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg | Partitioned and became Saxe-Altenburg in 1826 |
|
Saxe-Hildburghausen | Duchy partitioned and ruler became Duke of Saxe-Altenburg in 1826 |
|
Saxe-Lauenburg | Held by Denmark since 1815; by the Treaty of Vienna (1864), King Christian IX of Denmark abdicated as duke of Saxe-Lauenburg and ceded the duchy to Prussia and Austria;[8] In September 1865 William I of Prussia acceded as duke in personal union, following the Gastein Convention and a vote of the Estates of Lauenburg[8] |
|
Saxe-Meiningen | |
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Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | |
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Saxony | |
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Schaumburg-Lippe | |
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Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt | |
|
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Schwarzburg-Sondershausen | |
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Waldeck and Pyrmont | |
|
Württemberg | |
|
Bremen | |
|
Frankfurt | Annexed by Prussia 20 September 1866 |
|
Hamburg | |
|
Lübeck |
In 1839, as compensation for the loss of part of the province of Luxemburg to Belgium, the Duchy of Limburg was created and became a member of the German Confederation (held by the Netherlands jointly with Luxembourg) until the dissolution of 1866. In 1867 the duchy was declared to be an "integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands". The cities of Maastricht and Venlo were not included in the Confederation.
The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia were the largest and by far the most powerful members of the Confederation. Large parts of both countries were not included in the Confederation, because they had not been part of the former Holy Roman Empire, nor were the greater parts of their armed forces incorporated in the federal army. Austria and Prussia each had one vote in the Federal Assembly.
Six other major states had one vote each in the Federal Assembly: the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Kingdom of Saxony, the Kingdom of Württemberg, the Electorate of Hesse, the Grand Duchy of Baden, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse.
Three foreign monarchs ruled member states: the King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein and Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg; the King of the Netherlands as Grand Duke of Luxembourg and (from 1839) Duke of Limburg; and the King of the United Kingdom (until 1837) as King of Hanover were members of the German Confederation. Each of them had a vote in the Federal Assembly. At its foundation in 1815, four member states were ruled by foreign monarchs, as the King of Denmark was Duke of both Holstein and Saxe-Lauenburg.
The four free cities of Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Lübeck shared one vote in the Federal Assembly.
The 23 remaining states (at its formation in 1815) shared five votes in the Federal Assembly:
- Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Saxe-Hildburghausen (5 states)
- Brunswick and Nassau (2 states)
- Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz (2 states)
- Oldenburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (6 states)
- Hohenzollern-Hechingen, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Liechtenstein, Reuss (Elder Branch), Reuss (Younger Branch), Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe and Waldeck (8 states)
There were therefore 17 votes in the Federal Assembly.
Military
| History of Germany |
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