Events from the year 1861 in Germany.

Incumbents

• King of Bavaria – Ludwig II
• King of Hanover – George V
• King of Prussia – William I
• King of Saxony – John
• King of Württemberg – William I of Württemberg
• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I

Events

• 2 January – Frederick William IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I.^[1]
• 15 April – Watchmaker Junghans is founded.^[2]
• 6 June – German Progress Party (Deutsche Fortschrittspartei) is founded as Germany's first modern political party by liberal members of the Prussian House of Representatives in opposition to Bismarck.^[3]
• 1 July- Wallraf–Richartz Museum opened in Cologne
• 11 July – German Shooting and Archery Federation is founded in Gotha.^[4]
• 14 July – Osckar Becker attempts assassination of William I of Prussia in Baden-Baden.^[5]
• 7 August – Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein founded by Franz Liszt and Franz Brendel.^[6]
• 15 August – First description of Archaeopteryx, based on a feather found in Bavaria;^[7] in September the first complete identified skeleton is found near Langenaltheim.^[8]
• 1 October – Newspaper Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung begins daily publication as Nord-deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.^[9]
• Date unknown – Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg is founded.^[10]

Births

• 2 January – Wilhelm Bölsche, writer (died 1939)
• 30 January – Charles Martin Loeffler, violist (died 1937 in the United States)
• 4 February – Franz Winter, archaeologist (died 1930)
• 17 February – Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany, marries into the British royal family (died 1922 in Austria)
• 6 March – Friedrich Eckenfelder, painter (died 1938)
• 21 March – Charles Swickard, silent film director (died 1929 in the United States)
• 14 May – Harro Magnussen, sculptor (died 1908)
• 28 May – Siegfried Czapski, physicist and optician (died 1907)
• 19 June – Ludwig Traube, palaeographer (died 1907)
• 22 June – Maximilian von Spee, admiral (died 1914)
• 16 July – Franz von Blon, composer (died 1945)
• 11 September – Erich von Falkenhayn, general (died 1922)
• 18 September – Walter Schott, sculptor (died 1938)
• 23 September – Robert Bosch, industrialist, engineer and inventor (died 1942)
• 24 September – Walter Simons, lawyer and politician (died 1937)
• 28 September – Wilhelm Diegelmann, actor (died 1934)
• 29 September – Carl Duisberg, chemist and industrialist (died 1935)
• 15 October – Eduard Schmid, politician (died 1933)
• 20 October – Maximilian Harden, journalist (died 1927)
• 10 December
  • Karl Groos, philosopher (died 1946)
  • Elisabeth von Heyking, novelist and travel diarist (died 1925)
• 26 December
  • Friedrich Engel, mathematician (died 1941)
  • Ludolf von Krehl, internist (died 1937)
• 29 December – Kurt Hensel, mathematician (died 1941)

Deaths

• 2 January – Frederick William IV of Prussia, King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861 (born 1795)
• 21 January – Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel, sculptor (born 1804)
• 19 January – Albert Niemann, chemist (born 1834)
• 9 February – Karl Otto Ludwig von Arnim, travel writer and playwright (born 1779)
• 18 February – Theodor Mügge, writer (born 1802)
• 25 October – Friedrich Carl von Savigny, academic lawyer and historian (born 1779)
• 26 November – Wilhelm Hensel, painter (born 1794)
• 1 December – Heinrich August Hahn, theologian (born 1821)
• 18 December – Ernst Anschütz, teacher, organist, poet and composer (born 1780)