The alliance, which initially comprised the three major northern states of Brandenburg/Prussia, Hanover and Saxony, was set up officially to safeguard the constitutional integrity and territorial status quo of the Empire, but more immediately to oppose the long-cherished ambition of Joseph II to add Bavaria to the Habsburg domains.
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For Karl Theodor, his interest in the projected deal was mostly a matter of prestige as he envisioned himself as the ruler, possibly with the title of king, of a reconstructed Duchy of Burgundy composed of the Southern Netherlands plus his existing possessions in the Lower and Upper Rhine region, such as the Palatinate of the Rhine and the duchy of Berg-Jülich.