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1873
in
Germany

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Decades:

Incumbents

National level

Kaiser – William I
Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

State level

Kingdoms

King of Bavaria – Ludwig II
King of Prussia – William I
King of Saxony – John to 29 October, then Albert
King of Württemberg – Charles

Grand Duchies

Principalities

Duchies

Events

16 September – German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War.
22 October – Bismarck negotiates the League of the Three Emperors, ensuring an alliance between Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire.
Kattowitz is created as a district of Prussia.

Undated

German company Hochtief is founded.

Architecture

2 September – Berlin Victory Column inaugurated to celebrate the Second Schleswig War.

Arts

Music

Johannes Brahms premieres his String Quartet No. 1, Variations on a Theme by Haydn.

Commerce

The Baden gulden, the Bavarian gulden, the Bremen thaler, the Hamburg mark, the Hesse-Kassel vereinsthaler, the Mecklenburg vereinsthaler, the Prussian vereinsthaler, the Saxon vereinsthaler, the South German gulden and the Württemberg gulden are all abolished and replaced with the new single currency of the German Empire, the German gold mark.

Education

Establishment of the University of the Arts Bremen.
German language university, the Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule, is established in Cairo, Egypt.
Verein für Socialpolitik is established.

Science

Hermann von Helmholtz is awarded the Copley Medal "for his researches in physics and physiology".^[1]
31 May – Priam's Treasure was discovered by classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.

Transport

Frankfurt South station is opened.
The armoured frigate SMS Preußen is launched.

Births

January

6 January – Karl Straube, German organist (died 1950)
13 January – Walther Bensemann, Jewish-German association football pioneer (died 1934)
24 January – Hermann Haupt, German entomologist (died 1959)
31 January – Melitta Bentz, German entrepreneur (died 1950)

February

2 February – Konstantin von Neurath, German diplomat and Nazi party chancellor (died 1956)
26 February – Rudolf Kanzler, German politician and paramilitary leader (died 1956)

March

10 March
- Walter Friedländer, German art historian (died 1966)
- Jakob Wassermann, Jewish-German novelist (died 1934)
17 March – Wilhelm Kreis, German architect (died 1955)
19 March – Max Reger, German composer, pianist, conductor, writer and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory (died 1916)
23 March – Richard Kolkwitz, German botanist (died 1956)

April

7 April – Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski, German writer (died 1936)
27 April – Robert Wiene, German filmmaker (died 1938)

May

3 May – Richard von Kühlmann, German diplomat (died 1948)
14 May – Theodor von der Pfordten, Nazi paramilitary (died 1923)
21 May – Hans Berger, German neurologist (died 1941)
23 May – Leo Baeck, German rabbi (died 1956)
26 May – Hans Ludendorff, German astronomer (died 1941)

June

3 June – Otto Loewi, German pharmacologist and psychobiologist (died 1961)
7 June – Franz Weidenreich, Jewish-German anatomist (died 1948)
8 June – Franz Justus Rarkowski, German bishop of Roman-Catholic Church (died 1950)
16 June – Karl von Müller, German Imperial Navy captain (died 1923)
27 June – Jacob Moritz Blumberg, Jewish-German, surgeon (died 1955)
29 June – Leo Frobenius, German ethnologist (died 1938)
30 June – Friedrich Karl Georg Fedde, German botanist (died 1942)
30 June – Johannes Meisenheimer, German zoologist (died 1933)

July

2 July – Heinrich Hetsch, German physician (died 1947)

August

6 August – Otto von Feldmann, German Imperial Army officer and politician (died 1945)
20 August – Eugen Schmalenbach, German economist (died 1955)

September

15 September – Otto Wels, German politician (died 1939)
29 September – Carl Wilhelm Erich Zimmer, German zoologist (died 1950)

October

5 October – Otto Falckenberg, German theatre director and writer (died 1947)
9 October – Karl Schwarzschild, German physicist (died 1916)
10 October – Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg, German nobleman, explorer and politician (died 1969)

November

9 November – Fritz Thyssen, German industrialist (died 1951)
23 November – Otto Berg, German scientist (died 1939)
27 December – Rudolf Höber, German-American physician (died 1953)
28 December – Gotthard Fliegel, German geographer (died 1947)

Deaths

February

2 February – Princess Charlotte of Württemberg, German noblewoman (born 1807)
9 February – Julius Fürst, Jewish-German orientalist (born 1805)
23 February – Jakob Freiherr von Hartmann, Bavarian general (born 1795)

March

10 March – Pauline Therese of Württemberg, Queen consort of Württemberg (born 1800)
26 March – Albrecht von Bernstorff, Prussian politician (born 1809)

April

18 April – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (born 1803)
24 April – Prince Adolf zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Prussian nobleman (born 1797)

May

12 May – Karl von Bodelschwingh-Velmede, German politician (born 1800)

June

6 June – Adalbert of Prussia, German prince (born 1811)
14 June – Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian (born 1871)
21 June – Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, German Protestant theologian (born 1800)
29 June – Wolfgang Müller von Königswinter, German novelist (born 1816)

July

8 July – Franz Xaver Winterhalter, German painter (born 1805)

August

13 August – Fritz Bamberger (painter), Germany painter (born 1814)
18 August – Charles II, Duke of Brunswick, German nobleman (born 1804)

September

22 September – August Breithaupt, German mineralogist (born 1791)

October

10 October – Hermann Kurz, German writer and poet (born 1813)
13 October – Emil von Sydow, German geographer (born 1812)
29 October – John of Saxony, King of Saxony (born 1801)

November

26 November – Georg Amadeus Carl Friedrich Naumann, German mineralogist (born 1797)
14 December – Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, Queen consort of Prussia (born 1801)

References

^ "Helmholtz summary". University of St Andrews. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-03.

v t e Years in Germany (1871–present)
19th century	Pre-1871 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
20th century	1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
21st century	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

v t e 1873 in Europe
Sovereign states	Andorra Austria-Hungary Baden Belgium Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Ottoman Empire Portugal Prussia Russia San Marino Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United Principalities
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Malta