Incumbents

National level

Kaiser – William I
Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

State level

Kingdoms

Grand Duchies

Principalities

Duchies

Events

31 March – last Anti-Socicalist Law is passed by the German Reichstag.
16 May – Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, world's first electric tramway, starts in Berlin.
25 September – in Meckesheim physician Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer performs the first modern Caesarean section, the transverse incision technique to minimise bleeding.
27 October – German federal election, 1881

Births

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2011)

1 January – Hermann Schmitz, German industrialist (died 1960)
4 January – Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (died 1919)^[1]
17 January – Karl Scharnagl, German politician (died 1963)
16 February – Hans Vogel, German politician (died 1945)
16 February – Hans Meiser, German Protestant theologian, pastor and first 'Landesbischof' of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (died 1956)
23 March – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist (died 1965)^[2]
1 April – Wilhelm Sollmann, German journalist and politician (died 1951)
3 April – Hans Kniep, German botanist (died 1930)
19 April – Ernst Schneppenhorst, German politician (died 1945)
2 May – Ernst Legal, German actor (died 1955)
18 May – Erwin Madelung, German mathematician (died 1972)
30 May – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (died 1968)
31 May – Heinrich Burger, German figure skater (died 1942)
9 June – Felix von Luckner, German author, sailor and nobleman (died 1966)
24 June – Heinz Tietjen, German conductor (died 1967)
29 June – Gottlob Walz, German diver (died 1943)
27 July – Hans Fischer, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1945)^[3]
28 July – Günther Quandt, German industrialist (died 1954)
8 August – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (died 1954)
26 August – Franz Gürtner, German jurist and politician (died 1941)
4 October – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (died 1948)
9 October – Friedrich Syrup, German politician (died 1945)
12 November – Ulrich von Hassell, German diplomat (died 1944)
12 November – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (died 1954)
2 December – Heinrich Barkhausen, German physicist (died 1956)
4 December – Erwin von Witzleben, German officer (died 1944)
15 December – Eugen Bolz, German politician (died 1945)^[4]
25 December – Christian Hülsmeyer, German inventor, physicist and entrepreneur (died 1957)
31 December – Max Pechstein, German painter (died 1955)

Deaths

7 April – Johann Hinrich Wichern, German religious leader (born 1808)
15 May – Franz von Dingelstedt, German poet and dramatist (born 1814)
2 June – Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg, German diplomat (born 1815)
23 June – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist (born 1804)
10 July – Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect (born 1812)
11 October – Friedrich Hitzig, German architect (born 1811)^[5]

References

^ "Wilhelm Lehmbruck". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
^ "Hermann Staudinger". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
^ "Hans Fischer". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
^ "Eugen Bolz" (in German). German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
^ "Friedrich Hitzig" (in German). Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. Retrieved 27 February 2024.

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 1881 in Europe
Sovereign states	Andorra Austria-Hungary Baden Belgium Bulgaria Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Ottoman Empire Portugal Prussia Romania Russia San Marino Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Cyprus Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Malta