German Confederation, 1815–66, union of German states provided for at the Congress of Vienna to replace the old Holy Roman Empire, which had been destroyed during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It comprised 39 states in all, 35 monarchies and 4 free cities. Its purpose was to guarantee the external and internal peace of Germany and the independence of the member states. In case of attack the members pledged mutual aid. Certain princes, however, were exempt from this provision. These were the king of England, as king of Hanover; the king of the Netherlands, as duke of Luxembourg; and the King of Denmark, as duke of Holstein and Lauenburg. As it was constituted, the confederation was little more than a loose union for mutual defense. Its main organ, a central diet that met at Frankfurt under the presidency of Austria, functioned as a diplomatic conference. Unanimity or a two-thirds majority was required for most decisions, and, in voting, the delegates were bound to instructions from their respective governments. The diet thus was ineffective. The strong reactionary influence of the Austrian statesman Metternich Metternich, Clemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Fürst von (klā`mĕns vĕn`tsəl nā`pōm
..... Click the link for more information. , backed by Prussia, dominated the confederation until 1848, when the liberal revolutions that swept Germany resulted in the creation of the Frankfurt Parliament Frankfurt Parliament, 1848–49, national assembly convened at Frankfurt on May 18, 1848, as a result of the liberal revolution that swept the German states early in 1848. The parliament was called by a preliminary assembly of German liberals in Mar.
..... Click the link for more information. . The diet was resumed in 1850. By the treaty agreed upon at Olmütz (Olomouc Olomouc (ô`lômōts), Ger. Olmütz, city (1991 pop.
..... Click the link for more information. ), Austrian leadership was temporarily restored, but the Austro-Prussian War Austro-Prussian War or Seven Weeks War, June 15–Aug. 23, 1866, between Prussia, allied with Italy, and Austria, seconded by Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, and several smaller German states.
..... Click the link for more information. (1866) led to the dissolution of the confederation and the establishment of the North German Confederation North German Confederation, 1867–71, alliance of 22 German states N of the Main River. Dominated by Prussia, it replaced the German Confederation and included the states that had supported Prussia in the Austro-Prussian War (1866).
..... Click the link for more information. under Prussian leadership.

German Confederation

(1815–66) Organization of the states of central Europe, established by the Congress of Vienna to replace the destroyed Holy Roman Empire. It was a loose political association of 39 German states, formed for mutual defense, with no central executive or judiciary. Delegates met in a federal diet dominated by Austria. Amid a growing call for reform and economic integration, conservative leaders, including Klemens, prince von Metternich, persuaded the confederation's princes to pass the repressive Carlsbad Decrees (1819), and in the 1830s Metternich led the federal diet in passing additional measures to crush liberalism and nationalism. The formation of the Zollverein and the Revolutions of 1848 undermined the confederation. It was dissolved with the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the establishment of the North German Confederation.