In
this ambition he was not disappointed, for in the War of the Third
Coalition (1805) he received important assistance from these three
states, all of which were in turn liberally rewarded for their
services, the rulers of Bavaria and Wuerttemberg being proclaimed kings.
[Sidenote: Extinction of the Holy Roman Empire (1806), and its
Replacement by the Empire of Austria and the Confederation of the
Rhine]
The year 1806 was epochal in German history. On 19 July, the
Confederation of the Rhine was formally established with Napoleon as
Protector. The kings of Bavaria and Wuerttemberg, the grand-dukes of
Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Berg, the archbishop of Mainz, and nine
minor princes virtually seceded from the Holy Roman Empire and accepted
the protection of Napoleon, whom they pledged themselves to support
with an army of 63,000 men. On 1 August, Napoleon declared that he no
longer recognized the Holy Roman Empire, and on 6 August the Habsburg
emperor, Francis II, resigned the crown which his ancestors for
centuries had worn.
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