Most historians have judged that the German Confederation was a loose association of 39 states which were created in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries but were weak and ineffective thus became an obstacle to German nationalist aspirations. This prevented the German Confederation from becoming a strong nation. It collapsed because of:
i) The rivalry between Prussia and Austria that's known as German dualism.
II) Warfare.
III) The 1848 revolution, and
IV) The inability of members to compromise.
It was replaced by the North German Confederation in 1866.