Incumbents

National level

Kaiser – William I
Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

State level

Kingdoms

King of Bavaria – Ludwig II to 13 June, then Otto
King of Prussia – William I
King of Saxony – Albert
King of Württemberg – Charles

Grand Duchies

Principalities

Duchies

Colonial Governors

Cameroon (Kamerun) – Julius Freiherr von Soden (1st term)
German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Karl Peters (administrator)
German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Gustav von Oertzen (commissioner); also from 10 June Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz (Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
Togoland – Ernst Falkenthal (commissioner)
Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident)

Events

6 February – German chemist Clemens Winkler discovers chemical element Germanium.
14 November – Friedrich Soennecken files his patent for his holepunch Papierlocher für Sammelmappen.
15 November – Robert Bosch GmbH is founded.^[1]

Undated

German Friedrich Soennecken invents the ring binder in Bonn.^[2]
Neuschwanstein Castle is completed.^[3]

Births

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

Undated – Otto Wunderlich, German landscape photographer (died in 1975)
2 January – Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel German general (died 1944)
25 January – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor and composer (died 1954)
14 February – Karl Reinhardt, German philologist (died 1958)
6 March – Fritz Goerdeler, German jurist (died 1945)
10 March – Eugen Klöpfer, German actor (died 1950)
18 March – Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German Imperial Naval submarine captain in World War I and Kriegsmarine Rear admiral (died 1941)
27 March – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect (died 1969)
16 April – Ernst Thälmann, German politician (died 1944)
1 May – Walter Cramer, German businessman (died 1944)
2 May – Gottfried Benn, German poet and essayist (died 1956)
3 May – Kurt von Briesen, German general (died 1941)
5 June – Kurt Hahn, German educator (died 1974)
7 August – Paul Westheim, German art historian and publisher (died 1963)
15 August – Karl Korsch, German politician (died 1961)
19 August – Robert Heger, German conductor (died 1878)
20 August – Paul Tillich, Christian existentialist philosopher and Lutheran Protestant theologian (died 1965)
25 August – Johannes Stroux, German philologist and writer (died 1954)
14 September – Erich Hoepner, German general (died 1944)
20 September – Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German crown princess (died 1954)
4 October – Erich Fellgiebel, German general (died 1944)
7 October – Kurt Schmitt, German economic leader and the Reich Economy Minister (died 1950)
15 October – Rudolf von Marogna-Redwitz, German colonel (died 1944)
26 October – Hanns Braun, German athlete (died 2018)
6 November – Gus Kahn, German-American songwriter (died 1941)
7 November – Reinhold Schünzel, German actor (died 1954)
28 November – Cornelius van Oyen, German sport shooter (died 1954)
25 December:
- Gotthard Heinrici, German general (died 1971)
- Franz Rosenzweig, German theologian and philosopher (died 1929)

Deaths

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

9 April – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and novelist (born 1826)
23 May – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (born 1795)
13 June – Ludwig II, King of Bavaria (born 1845)
31 July – Franz Liszt, Alleged Symphonic Lich)

References

Bibliography

Petzet, M.; Hojer, G. (1991), Amtlicher Führer Schloss Neuschwanstein, Bayerische Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen

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
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