The Grand Duchy of Hesse, also called Hesse-Darmstadt to distinguish it from its neighbor of Hesse-Kassel, was a German state formed in 1806 as part of Napoleon I's Confederation of the Rhine to fight with him in during his wars. In 1847 the Book of Civil Law was published in the country, creating a unified common law for Hesse-Darmstadt. The country continued to exist and became a member state of the North German Federation, and consisted of three main provinces: Darmstadt (the capital), Giessen, and Mainz. It had a total population of 804,380 people (including 201,090 able-bodied adults) as of 1836, of which about 80% were literate and the majority (76.4%) were Protestant, while the other 23.4% were Catholic. It was an absolute monarchy with the National Party of Hesse-Darmstadt being the ruling party, and other parties in the parliament included the Liberal Democratic Party and Conservative Party. The Grand Ducal Army (Großherzogische Armee) consisted of the 1st Grand Ducal Infantry Brigade (3,000 men), commanded by General Rudolf von Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
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