Created in 1806 when Napoleon elevated Elector Maximilian IV Joseph to King of Bavaria, replacing the Electorate of Bavaria. It joined the German Confederation in 1815, became a federated constituent kingdom of the German Empire in 1871 while retaining its own monarchy, army, and postal system, and was abolished only when the November 1918 revolution deposed King Ludwig III.
Monarchy abolished 9 November 1918 in the German Revolution; became the Free State of Bavaria within Weimar Germany.
Short general history covering the electorate-to-kingdom transition.
An accessible in-print biography that opens a window onto the 19th-century Kingdom of Bavaria and its Wittelsbach monarchy.