Sixteen states in present-day Germany, on signing the Treaty of the Confederation of the Rhine (German: Rheinbundakte) in Paris on July 12, 1806, join together in a confederation (the treaty calls it the états confédérés du Rhinelande, with a precursor in the League of the Rhine).

Napoleon is its "protector".

Liechtenstein is given full sovereignty, leading to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire after eight hundred and forty-four years.

According to the treaty, the confederation is to be run by common constitutional bodies, but the individual states (in particular the larger ones) want unlimited sovereignty.

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

As such, he is President of the College of Kings and presides over the Diet of the Confederation, designed to be a parliament-like body although it will never actually assemble.

The President of the Council of the Princes is the Prince of Nassau-Usingen.

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

States are also made larger by incorporating the many smaller "Kleinstaaten", or small former imperial member states.

They have to pay a very high price for their new status, however.

The Confederation is above all a military alliance: the members have to maintain substantial armies for mutual defense and supply France with large numbers of military personnel.

As events play out the members of the confederation will find themselves more subordinated to Napoleon than they had been to the Habsburgs.