What treaty created the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806?

What treaty created the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806? The answer is the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine.

The treaty was signed in Paris on 12 July 1806 by representatives of 16 German states. It established a French-aligned federation whose members formally withdrew from the Holy Roman Empire and accepted Napoleon as its hereditary Protector. The arrangement greatly expanded French influence across central and southern Germany.

The treaty followed Napoleon’s victories over Austria and Russia at Austerlitz in 1805. Its terms were not an equal partnership: member states received protection and, in some cases, expanded territories, but they also had to provide troops for Napoleon’s campaigns. Bavaria and Württemberg were among the leading members.

The Confederation’s creation accelerated the end of the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, Emperor Francis II declared that the empire had been dissolved. The Confederation later grew to 36 states, but collapsed in 1813 after Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig. It is commonly confused with the later German Confederation established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.