Before its dissolution in 1866, the German Confederation contained more than 30 formally sovereign monarchies. This chapter focuses on the confederal reform efforts of three smaller monarchs. They contended that it was not just their right as German monarchs but also their duty to ‘sacrifice’ their sovereignty and independence to a centralizing nation-state. In the ensuing debates, confederal leaders co-figured notions of a ‘modern’ hegemonic nation state and an ‘unmodern’ emphasis on small-state diversity and princely rights. After providing a brief history of the Confederation to 1859, the first part of my chapter outlines the three rulers’ reform proposals to 1861. These proposals eventually foundered on the resistance of larger monarchs who insisted on the inviolability of traditional prerogatives. I then analyse the meaning of monarchy Ernst II of Coburg and his government advanced in an 1862 military convention with Prussia and the controversy it created among confederal leaders. Military command proved key to contemporary understandings of ‘how much’ sovereignty made the continued existence of smaller monarchs and states practicable. Finally, the chapter follows the three monarchs through the 1863 Frankfurt Fürstentag (Princes’ Conference). In their final attempt at peaceful reform, the trio argued that national consolidation should proceed from the legal equality of all German monarchs as sovereigns, while middling rulers sought to leverage the traditional hierarchy of monarchical titles to enhance their power in a consolidated Germany. Frankfurt ultimately failed; and in the months before the decisive Austro-Prussian War (1866), the smaller monarchs’ cooperation ended.