Consolidation of Power 489

The Battle of Trafalgar.

Napoleon organized the Confederation of the Rhine, composed of sixteen

German states, excluding Prussia and Austria (see Map 13.1). Napoleon

named himself “Protector” of the Confederation, whose members agreed

to accept French garrisons in southern Germany and to support Napoleon

if war broke out again. This made the Holy Roman Empire even more irrel­

evant than it had been for a very long time. In 1806, Francis II (Francis I of

Austria) simply dissolved the clumsy entity by abdicating as Holy Roman

emperor.

As French power in Central Europe grew; the British government con­

vinced Frederick William to join the alliance against Napoleon. But

Napoleon's forces humiliated the Prussian army at Jena near Nuremberg on

October 14, 1806, and then occupied Berlin. In February 1807, the French

and Russian armies fought to a bloody draw in a Polish snowstorm. Had Aus­

trian and British troops been sent to support the Russians, Napoleon might

well have been soundly defeated. But Austria was still reeling from the

defeat at Austerlitz, and the British were preoccupied with defending their

commercial interests in the Western Hemisphere. Napoleon sent for fresh

troops from France and added 30,000 Polish soldiers, some attracted by

speculation that the emperor might create an independent Polish state.

After defeating the Russian army at the Battle of Friedland (June 1807),

Napoleon met with Tsar Alexander I (ruled 1801-1825) on a raft in the

middle of a river. Frederick William, the king of Prussia, paced anxiously on