monarchy by force, preferring to do so by legal means. Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich, in his funeral speech, made a clear commitment to the monarchy while Rupprecht only declared that he had stepped into his birthright. Geography, administrative regions and population When Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire, and Bavaria became a kingdom in 1806, its land area doubled. Tyrol (1805–1814) and Salzburg (1810–1816) were temporarily united with Bavaria but then returned (Tyrol) or ceded (Salzburg) to Habsburg/Austrian rule. In return the Rhenish Palatinate and Franconia were annexed to Bavaria in 1815. After the founding of the kingdom the state was totally reorganised and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative government districts (Regierungsbezirke (singular Regierungsbezirk)) in Bavaria called Kreise (singular Kreis). They were created in the fashion of the French departements, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers: Altmühl-, Eisack-, Etsch-, Iller-, Inn-, Isar-, Lech-, Main-, Naab-, Oberdonau-, Pegnitz-, Regen-, Rezat-, Salzach- and Unterdonaukreis Because of the numerous territorial changes in 1810 and 1815, the divisions needed to be adjusted and the number of Kreise was reduced to 8: Isar-, Unterdonau-, Oberdonau-, Regen-, Rezat-, Untermain-, Obermain- and Rheinkreis. As of 1838, at the instigation of King Ludwig I, the Kreise were renamed after the former historical tribes and territories of the respective area in: Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Swabia and Neuburg, Upper Palatinate and Regensburg, Middle Franconia, Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Upper Franconia and Palatinate. The town names of Neuburg, Regensburg and Aschaffenburg were later dropped. Accordingly, the king changed his royal titles to Ludwig, King of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, Duke in Swabia and Count Palatine of the Rhine and these were retained by his successors. The Palatinate (formerly Rheinkreis) which Bavaria had acquired was mainly the western part of the former Electorate of the Palatinate. Ludwig's plan to acquire also the former eastern part could not be realized. The Electorate, a former dominion of the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty, had been split up in 1815, the eastern bank of the Rhine with Mannheim and Heidelberg was given to Baden. The western bank was granted to Bavaria as compensation for the loss of Tyrol and Salzburg. After the Austro-Prussian War (1866) in which Bavaria had sided with defeated Austria, it had to cede several Lower Franconian districts to Prussia. The duchy of Coburg was never part of the Kingdom of Bavaria since