like Joseph Görres urged the proclamation of a Cisrhenian Republic, after the first hoisting of a green, white and red tricolour flag in Cologne on 28 August. Similar ceremonies were also held in Rheinbach, Koblenz and Bonn, accompanied by the planting of "liberty trees" throughout the country. The democrats occupied the most important municipal palaces in the area. The number of supporters of the Republic among the population is difficult to assess from today's perspective. In any case, the strong presence of occupying troops, entailing taxes and contributions, persisted. Meanwhile, the Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797) in Paris boosted radical forces demanding an annexation of the Left Bank by the French motherland. When General Hoche died unexpectedly on September 18 at the age of 29, the idea of a Cisrhenian Republic lost her strongest advocate. By the Treaty of Campo Formio on 18 October 1797, Emperor Francis II accepted the Rhine border and the administration of the region was officially assigned to France. On December 17, French Commissioner François Joseph Rudler had the green, white and red Cisrhenian flag taken down from the Liberty Tree in Bonn and replaced by the blue, white and red tricolor. "It also became visible from the outside that the illusion of self-determination of the political future of the left bank of the Rhine was finally at an end." By 1798, the lands west of the Rhine were organized by Rudler into the of , , and . Rudler also had the French implemented, what ended any idea of a planned autonomous Republic. The French annexation was internationally announced in the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville, and the Rhineland was officially incorporated on 9 March 1801. The inclusion of the western bank of the Rhine into the French Empire also led to the . Further reading Yvonne Kafka: Das Wendejahr 1797/8: Cisrhenanische Republik oder Annektion? [sic] Grin-Verlag für akademische Texte, München 2011, . 1797 in France 1797 in the Holy Roman Empire 1797 in Europe Former states and territories of North Rhine-Westphalia Former states and territories of Rhineland-Palatinate History of the Rhineland