South German Confederation
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From 1866 to 1869, the South German Confederation or Südbund, was the idea that the southern German states of Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt would form a confederation of states. Article 4 of the Peace of Prague after the Austro-Prussian War spoke of this possibility (literally: “meet into an association”). However, due to disagreement among themselves, the southern German states concerned did not make use of this.
In the north, the Kingdom of Prussia formed the North German Confederation as a new German federal state. The North German Confederation and Prussia individually concluded defense treaties with the southern states, the protection and defence alliances . In 1870/1871, after France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the North German Confederation absorbed the southern states and transformed itself into the German Empire.