A confederation of German client states organized by Napoleon after his victory at Austerlitz, replacing the just-dissolved Holy Roman Empire as the political order of non-Prussian, non-Austrian Germany. Sixteen founding states in 1806 grew to 36 by 1808 (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Berg, and many smaller principalities); members supplied troops and ceded foreign-policy control to France in exchange for territorial consolidation and, in several states, the abolition of imperial-era feudal fragmentation.
Collapsed after Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig in October 1813; member states defected to the Sixth Coalition and the Confederation dissolved in November-December 1813 (sources vary: Wikipedia gives 4 November, Wikidata's P576 gives 11 December). Its territory was reorganized as the German Confederation at the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
Polity-specific study of the Confederation's member-state military contingents across its full lifespan; the closest dedicated English-language monograph found on Open Library.
Broad verified survey of Napoleonic client-state administration across Europe (already used elsewhere in this dataset for the Cisalpine/Ligurian Republics); covers the Confederation's institutional structure and the Rheinbund reforms in context.