Unification of Germany
In the 18th century the hundreds of rulers of parts of the Holy Roman Empire were practically independent; they seldom had to obey the Emperor, and often made war against each other or against the Emperor. During the Napoleonic Wars the empire was abolished. Napoleon made a new satellite state, the Confederation of the Rhine. He was soon defeated and the Congress of Vienna reorganized the German states into a new German Confederation. Bismarck's North German Confederation replaced that, until he converted it into the German Empire.