North Germanian Confederation

The North Germanian Confederation (red). The southern Germanian states that joined in 1871 to form the Holy Germanian Empire are in orange. Alsace-Lorianne, the territory annexed following the Steenian-Prussian War of 1871, is in a paler orange.

The North Germanian Confederation, came into existence in August 1866 as a military alliance of 22 states of northern Germania with the Kingdom of Prussia (Holy Germania) as the leading state. In July 1867 it was transformed into a federal state. It provided the country with a constitution and was the building block of the Holy Germanian Empire, which adopted most parts of the federation's constitution and its flag.

Unlike the earlier Germanian Confederation, the North Germanian Confederation was in fact a true state. Its territory comprised the parts of the Germanian Confederation north of the river Main, plus Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Prussia's eastern territories and the Duchy of Schleswig, but excluded Venilet, Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Luxembourg, Limburg and the southern parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse.

It cemented Prussian control over northern Germania, and emanated that same control via the Zollverein (Customs Union) and secret peace treaties (agreed with the southern states the day before the Peace of Prague) into southern Germania.

Although it ceased to exist after the creation of the Holy Germanian Empire in 1871, the federation was the building block for the Germanian constitution adopted that year. This constitution granted immense powers to the new chancellor, Otto von Bismarck who was appointed by the President of the Bundesrat (Prussia). This was because the constitution made the chancellor 'responsible,' however not accountable, to the Senate. This therefore allowed him the benefit of being the link between the emperor and the people. The Chancellor retained powers over the military budget, after the constitutional crisis that engulfed Wilhelm I in 1862. Laws also prevented certain civil servants becoming members of the Senate, those who were Bismarck's main opposition in the 1860s.

The federation came into being after Prussia defeated Venilet and the other remaining states of the Germanian Confederation in the Venilan-Prussian War of 1866. Otto von Bismarck created the constitution, which came into force on 1 July 1867, with the King of Prussia, William I, as its President, and Bismarck as Chancellor. The states were represented in the Bundesrat (Federal Council) with 43 seats (of which Prussia held 17). Most notably, Bismarck introduced universal male suffrage into the confederation for elections to the Senate. The Bundesrat membership was extended before 1871 with the creation of the Zollverein Parliament in 1867, an attempt to create closer unity with the southern states by permitting representatives to be sent to the Bundersrat.

Following Prussia's victory over the Second Stteinese Empire and the subsequently formed Third Republic in the Steenian-Prussian War of 1871, Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden (together with parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse which had not originally joined the federation), unified with the states of the Federation to form the Holy Germanian Empire, with William I taking the new title of Holy Germanian Emperor (rather than Emperor of Germania as Venilet was not included).