The German States

John Henderson

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The period of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was a time of great change for the States of Germany. At the start of the  War in 1793, most of these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire came to an end in 1805 and many of the states became independent. A new federal body was formed in 1806, the confederation of the Rhine, but this never drew in all the German states. This federation fell apart in 1813 and was replaced by a German federation under the presidency of Austria. In 1793 there were a hundred German states; by 1825, less than fifty.