ABSTRACT

Napoléon’s “La Grande Armée” defeated Alexander I’s Russian army in the Battle of Friedland on June 14, 1807.1 The result was the Treaty of Tilsit (July 1807), which was simply one in a long series of treaties that resulted from French conquests in Europe during the first decade of the nineteenth century. The Treaty of Tilsit forced Frederick III, King of Prussia, to cede large portions of German territory to France. This was not a complete disaster for the Germans, however, for Germany was at the time a fragmented territory of petty principalities, none of which could unite Germany into one nation-state. Cultural and geographical unification, however, was on the minds of many Germans. The Treaty of Tilsit represented at least in part a step towards a united Germany, albeit a Germany under French rule.