In order to consolidate his rule over parts of western and central Germany, Napoleon decided to establish the Rhine League. On July 21, 1806, the monarchs of Germany signed a corresponding treaty with Talleyrand in Paris according to Napoleon's order, and the Rhine Alliance was formally formed. Although the foreign minister did not approve of the destruction of the original political mechanism in Europe, he still tried his best to make the new mechanism as conducive to European stability as possible. Participating in the alliance are Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden and other 16 western and southern German countries. The League elected Napoleon as its "protector". As a token of gratitude for the Emperor's "protection", the League was obliged to provide Napoleon with 100,000 soldiers in case of war. Many independent small states that were formerly subject to the Austrian Habsburg emperors are now subject to the monarchs of the Rhine League countries, and their territories are also included in the Rhine League countries. Nuremberg was incorporated into Bavaria, Frankfurt into Baden, and the "Knightland" of the Holy Roman Empire, which traditionally belonged to Austria and Habsburg, also belonged to the Rhineland Confederation. The "Holy Roman Empire" that existed for 1,000 years survived in name only.
The Treaty of Pressburg made Napoleon many enemies. The establishment of the Rhine Confederation not only made Austria angry, but also seriously broke the balance of Prussia, which has remained neutral in the war against France (although in the third war against France and France, Prussia and Russia signed a treaty to fight against France, But the war ended before the Prussian army reached the battlefield, and Prussia immediately sent people to repair relations with France afterwards, so that the two countries have always maintained a peaceful relationship), and finally led to the cowardly and timid Prussian King Friedrich Greece & #8226; William III took a desperate risk-war with France. At this time, Prussia has always had the title of a traditional European army power. Although it has been handed down many years ago and has not been tested by war for a long time, no country in Europe dares to provoke Prussia easily. The 200,000 elite army is not just for display. Although Prussia and Tsarist Russia signed a peace treaty on February 15, 1806, Prussia and Tsarist Russia have maintained secret exchanges (at least because Queen Louise of Prussia has a good impression of Tsar Alexander, because Alexander is very tall and handsome. Napoleon is a Little man, Louise often publicly made some insults to Napoleon). The Allies of the Rhine threatened Prussian territory. In March, after Napoleon granted Murat and Caroline the Duchy of Cleaver and Berg, known as "the most beautiful gift in the world", the situation became even more severe. After Murat became the Grand Duke, he immediately "expanded" the territory of Prussia; Napoleon did not stop it, which made Prussia feel deeply thorny.
Unable to defeat Britain, Napoleon chose to expand outward. Deutschland has always been divided, which gave him a good chance. Among the countries where Germany was divided, except for the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, the others are some very weak states. After three wars, Austria, the most powerful country among all members of Germany, was severely injured by France, and the land was ceded to pay compensation. The plan is threatened. Although the remaining Prussia is weaker than Austria, it will take a lot of national strength for France to defeat her. That's why Napoleon decided to support the small countries under France's control to form an alliance. It is much more cost-effective to use her to contain Prussia than France to directly confront Prussia.
Prussia is a traditional strong country, and the overall strength of the Rhine Union is not bad, and France stands behind it. When the two tigers compete, the winner is naturally France, which plays the role of hunter. Even if Prussia cannot be defeated, she must have no energy to influence France's future wars with other European countries.
In a letter to Talleyrand, Napoleon expressed his intention to keep Prussia neutral: "Prussia is a big country, and it should be regarded as a serious mistake to allow it to expand its territory further... The countermeasure is to create a new German state to compete with it." The capital of the German state should be located near Wesel and Düsseldorf (in the duchy of Murat). The granting of the Duchy of Cleaver and the Duchy of Burg to Murat is exactly the embodiment of Napoleon's plan. After acquiring these two duchies, Murat quickly expanded to the north, seriously threatening the security of Prussia. King Friedrich William III of Prussia was seriously dissatisfied with this, and warned Murat to withdraw from Prussia's sphere of influence, or there would be war. And Murat, who was backed by Napoleon, didn't pay attention to Friedrich William III's warning at all. As a result, the conflict continued to magnify, and finally reached the point of irreconcilability. Subsequently, Napoleon ordered the 2nd Army and the 3rd Army to march into the Rhine League, which angered Friedrich William III even more.
Napoleon's army entered the major German duchies, which played a pivotal role. The patriotic bookseller Palme in Nuremberg published books against French territorial expansion, which angered Napoleon. He ordered Berthier's army to kidnap and kill Palme, just as he had done to the Duke of Dangan. Napoleon's paranoia was so great, his power so great, that he no longer considered what other nations might think of his actions.
King Friedrich William III of Prussia and the Prussian nobles saw that Napoleon's influence had penetrated into the heart of Germany, and Prussia's territorial integrity was seriously threatened. In addition, it was reported that Napoleon had agreed to the British Foreign Secretary Fox Return Hanover to England, which Napoleon had secretly promised to give to Prussia. On July 21, 1806, France announced the establishment of the Rhine Confederation, which immediately included Würzburg and Saxony, much to the shock of King Friedrich of Prussia in the palace of Potsdam. The Prussian dynasty, which had traditionally feared and hated Saxony (a city south of Berlin that includes the cities of Leipzig and Dresden), was now included in Napoleon's new German Empire and was naturally outraged. In fact, Napoleon knew in his heart that he deliberately incited the anger of Prussia.
Friedrich's anger was out of control, and on September 26 he sent Napoleon a long letter, in fact an ultimatum - a vehement and direct ultimatum, vehemently condemning the founding of the Rhine Allies and the Murat's occupation of Wessel. Europe could no longer afford "this continual fever of fear and uneasiness."
Thus, war was no longer inevitable.
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