Editing German Confederation (section)

=== Activities ===
The rules of the Confederation provided for three different types of military interventions:<ref>Following Ernst Rudolf Huber: ''Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789.'' vol. I: ''Reform und Restauration 1789 bis 1830.'' 2nd ed., W. Kohlhammer: Stuttgart et al., 1967, pp. 607–609.</ref>
* the federal war (''Bundeskrieg'') against an external enemy who attacks federal territory,
* the federal execution (''Bundesexekution'') against the government of a member state that violates federal law,
* the federal intervention (''Bundesintervention'') supporting a government that is under pressure of a popular uprising.
Other military conflicts were foreign to the confederation (''bundesfremd''). An example is Austria's oppression of the uprising in Northern Italy in 1848 and 1849, as these Austrian territories lay outside of the confederation's borders.

During the existence of the Confederation, there was only one federal war: the war against Denmark beginning with the Schleswig-Holstein uprising in 1848 (the [[First Schleswig War]]). The conflict became a federal war when the Bundestag demanded from Denmark to withdraw its troops from Schleswig (April 12) and recognized the revolutionary of Schleswig-Holstein (April 22). The confederation was transformed into the [[German Empire (1848–1849)|German Empire of 1848]]. Prussia was ''de facto'' the most important member state conducting the war for Germany.<ref>Ernst Rudolf Huber: ''Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789.'' vol. 2: ''Der Kampf um Einheit und Freiheit 1830 bis 1850.'' W. Kohlhammer: Stuttgart et al., 1960, pp. 669–671.</ref>

There are several examples for federal executions and especially federal interventions. In 1863, the Confederation ordered a federal execution against the duke of Holstein (the Danish king). Federal troops occupied Holstein which was a member state. After this, Austria and Prussia declared war on Denmark, the Second Schleswig War (or ''Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg'' in German). As Schleswig and Denmark were not member states, this war was foreign to the Confederation. The Confederation took no part in this war.

A federal intervention confronted for example the [[Baden Revolution|raid of the revolutionaries in Baden]] in April 1848.

In June 1866, the Federal Convention decided to takes measures against Prussia. This decision was technically not a federal execution for a lack of time to observe the actual procedure. Prussia had violated, according to the majority of the convention, federal law by sending its troops to Holstein. The decision led to the war in summer 1866 that ended with the dissolution of the confederation ([[Austro-Prussian War|known as ''Seven Weeks War'' or by other names]]).