The Treaty of Ried of 8 October 1813 was a treaty that was signed between the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

and

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. By the treaty, Bavaria left the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austrian Empire, Austria ...

, which was allied with Napoleon, and agreed to join the Sixth Coalition against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in exchange for a guarantee of its continued sovereign and independent status. On 14 October, Bavaria made a formal declaration of war against the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

. The treaty was passionately backed by the Crown Prince Louis and by Marshal von Wrede. The treaty was drafted by

Klemens von Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ( ; 15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich () or Prince Metternich, was a German statesman and diplomat in the service of the Austrian Empire. ...

, who assembled the German partners in the Sixth Coalition. By separating Bavaria from the Confederation of the Rhine, Metternich checked the ambitions of

German nationalists German nationalism () is an ideological notion that promotes the unity of Germans and of the Germanosphere into one unified nation-state. German nationalism also emphasizes and takes pride in the patriotism and national identity of Germans a ...

such as Baron von Stein, who had been aiming to use the fall of Napoleon to create a pan-German state. Metternich, a conservative Austrian, desired to avoid a pan-German state, which would dissolve local sovereignty and engender liberalism, and also desired to avoid the Prussian ambition of bifurcating Germany between Prussia and Austria. The secret articles in the treaty guaranteed full sovereignty to Bavaria under its existing borders. The enactment of the treaty broke Napoleon's supply lines, and two weeks later, he was defeated at the

Battle of Leipzig The Battle of Leipzig, also known as the Battle of the Nations, was fought from 16 to 19 October 1813 at Leipzig, Saxony. The Coalition armies of Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia, led by Tsar Alexander I, Karl von Schwarzenberg, and G ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty Of Ried Ried 1813 in the Austrian Empire 1813 in Bavaria 1813 treaties Ried Treaties of the Kingdom of Bavaria October 1813 War of the Sixth Coalition Ludwig I of Bavaria Klemens von Metternich