The Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation (German: Rheinbund; French: États confédérés du Rhin officially and Confédération du Rhin in practice) was a client state of the First French Empire. It was formed initially from 16 German states by Napoleon after he defeated Austria's Francis II and Russia's Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. The Treaty of Pressburg, in effect, led to the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine. It lasted from 1806 to 1813.
The members of the confederation were German princes (Fürsten) from the Holy Roman Empire, and so technically not heads of state of their states as such. They were later joined by 19 others, all together ruling a total of over 15 million subjects providing a significant strategic advantage to the French Empire on its eastern front.
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