This granted a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern frontier by providing a buffer between France and the two largest German states, Prussia and Austria (which also controlled substantial non-German lands).

After the Treaty of Lunéville, which saw the annexation of the German territories of the left bank of the Rhine occupied by France, a new order of Central European states was established.

When the War of the Third Coalition broke out in 1805, with Russia, Austria and Great Britain on the one side and France on the other, Bavaria, Baden and Wurttemberg allied with Napoleon.

Furthermore, Austria had to concede territory and Napoleon named his brothers Joseph and Louis kings of Naples and Holland, respectively, and his brother-in-law Joachim Murat, Grand Duke of Berg.

Francis II had to assent to the elevation of both Bavaria and Württemberg to the rank of kingdom and Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt and Berg to that of grand duchy.

On 12 July, the Paris envoys of the various princes were summoned to the ministry of Foreign Affairs to find themselves instructed by Talleyrand to sign the treaty of the new alliance, whose terms had been decided between him and Napoleon.

He hurriedly sent Baron Karl von Gravenreuth to Paris with instructions to reject a confederation which he said gave to the Protector a power "more extensive than the Emperor of Germany ever had".

[1] Instead of a monarchical head of state, as the Holy Roman Emperor had been, its highest office was held by Karl Theodor von Dalberg, the former Arch Chancellor, who now bore the title of a Prince-Primate of the confederation.

In return for their support of Napoleon, some rulers were given higher statuses: Baden, Hesse, Cleves, and Berg were made into grand duchies, and Württemberg and Bavaria became kingdoms.

[6] In order to add luster to his newly-founded dynasty, the French Emperor pressed hard to arrange a marriage between his step-son Eugène de Beauharnais and Augusta of Bavaria.

In 1810 large parts of what is now northwest Germany were quickly annexed to France in order to better monitor the trade embargo with Great Britain, the Continental System.

There are three basic types: The following table shows the members of the confederation, with their date of joining, as well as the number of troops provided, listed in parentheses.

On the other hand, most members of the Confederation of the Rhine located in central and southern Germany survived with minor border changes.