Electorate of Baden

The Electorate of Baden was a state of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from 1803 to 1806. In the German mediatisation of 1803, Margrave Charles Frederick of Baden received the bishopric of Constance, parts of the Electorate of the Palatinate, and other districts, together with the dignity of Prince-elector. Baden had been devastated during the French Revolutionary Wars and in 1796 was forced to cede its territories on the left bank of the Rhine to France. Charles Frederick changed sides in 1805 and fought for Napoleon; the Peace of Pressburg then brought him the Breisgau and other Austrian lands. When the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in 1806, Baden joined the Confederation of the Rhine and Charles Frederick took the title of Grand Duke, transforming the electorate into the Grand Duchy of Baden. Its capital was Karlsruhe, and the electorate is remembered as the brief bridge between the old margraviate and the enlarged grand duchy.