German Confederacy

German Confederation
Deutscher Bund
1815–1848 (interrupted by the German Empire (1848–49)) 1850–1866
Ensign Coat of arms (1848–66)
The German Confederation in 1815   Member states   Territory of member states outside of the confederation
Capital		Frankfurt
Languages		German Italian Low German Czech Slovene Polish Limburgish and others
Religion		Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish
Political structure		Confederation
Head of the Präsidialmacht Austria
•	1815–1835	Francis I
•	1835–1848	Ferdinand I
•	1850–1866	Franz Joseph I
Legislature		Federal Convention
History
•	Constitution adopted	8 June 1815
•	German Revolutions	13 March 1848
•	Punctation of Olmütz	29 November 1850
•	Austro-Prussian War	14 June 1866
•	Peace of Prague	23 August 1866
Area
•	1815	630,100 km2 (243,300 sq mi)
Population
•	1815 est.	29,200,000
Density		46/km2 (120/sq mi)
Currency		Reichsthaler (to 1857) Conventionsthaler (to 1857) Vereinsthaler (from 1857)
Preceded by Succeeded by Confederation of the Rhine Austrian Empire Kingdom of Prussia North German Confederation Austrian Empire Kingdom of Bavaria Kingdom of Württemberg Grand Duchy of Baden Grand Duchy of Hesse Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Principality of Liechtenstein
Today part of		Germany  Austria  Poland  Czech Republic  Netherlands  Belgium  Luxembourg  Croatia  Italy  Slovenia  Liechtenstein

The German Confederation (German: Deutscher Bund) was an association of 39 German states in Central Europe, created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries and to replace the former Holy Roman Empire, which the French Emperor Napoleon I had brought to an end in 1805. Mosthistorians have judged the Confederation to have been weak and ineffective, as well as an obstacle to the creation of a German nation-state. It collapsed due to the rivalry between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, warfare in the several European revolutions of 1848, and the 1848–1849 German revolution, and the inability of the multiple members to compromise.

In 1848, revolutions by liberals and nationalists were a failed attempt to establish a unified German state with a progressive liberal constitution by the Frankfurt Convention. Talks between the German states failed in 1848, and the Confederation briefly dissolved, but was re-established shortly after, in 1850. It decidedly fell apart only after the Prussian victory in the Seven Weeks' War over Austria (also known as the Austro-Prussian War) of 1866.

The dispute between the two dominant member states of the Confederation, Austria and Prussia, over which had the inherent right to rule German lands ended in favour of Prussia after the Seven Weeks' War of 1866. This led to the creation of the North German Confederation under Prussian leadership in 1867. 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 for the now unified Germany with the Prussian king as emperor (Kaiser) after the victory over French Emperor Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.