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 Geschichte Bayerns > Review > The Kingdom of Bavaria (1806-1918)
The Kingdom of Bavaria (1806-1918)

Bavaria was a kingdom for over 100 years, from January 1, 1806 to November 8, 1918. The six Bavarian kings reigned as constitutional monarchs. The first Bavarian monarch, Max Joseph I, owed his royal status to an alliance with the French emperor Napoleon I.

The kingdom was formed by the incorporation of numerous hitherto independent territories in Old Bavaria, Franconia and Swabia. Apart from the king it was primarily the minister Count Maximilian von Montgelas who formed the basis for the modern Bavaria on the French model: equality before the war, abolition of tax privileges, reorganization of the administration, the introduction of a salaried civil service, religious tolerance, and finally the constitution of 1818.