Confederation of the Rhine

The Confederation of the Rhine , but in practice Confédération du Rhin) was a confederation of German client states at the behest of the First French Empire. It was formed from parts of the Holy Roman Empire by Napoleon after he defeated Austria and Russia at the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, which lasted from 1806 to 1813.
The members of the confederation were German princes formerly within the Holy Roman Empire. They were later joined by 19 others after they were mediatised, altogether ruling a total of over 15 million subjects. This granted a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern frontier by providing a separation between France and the two largest German states, Prussia and Austria .

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