1878 in Germany

Events from the year 1878 in Germany.

National level

 * Kaiser – William I
 * Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

Kingdoms

 * King of Bavaria – Ludwig II
 * King of Prussia – William I
 * King of Saxony – Albert
 * King of Württemberg – Charles

Grand Duchies

 * Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
 * Grand Duke of Hesse – Louis IV
 * Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis II
 * Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Frederick William
 * Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Peter II
 * Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – Charles Alexander

Principalities

 * Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
 * Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
 * Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Gonthier Frederick Charles II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
 * Principality of Lippe – Woldemar, Prince of Lippe
 * Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz
 * Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
 * Waldeck and Pyrmont –– George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Duchies

 * Duke of Anhalt – Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
 * Duke of Brunswick – William, Duke of Brunswick
 * Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
 * Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
 * Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Events

 * 13 July – Congress of Berlin
 * 13 July– Treaty of Berlin
 * 30 July – German federal election, 1878
 * 19 October – First Anti-Socicalist law passed by the German Reichstag

Births

 * 4 January – Gerdt von Bassewitz, German playwright and actor (died 1923)
 * 16 March – Clemens August Graf von Galen, German bishop of Roman-Catholic Church (died 1946)
 * 1 April – Carl Sternheim, German playwright and short story writer (died 1942)
 * 6 April – Erich Mühsam, German poet and playwright (died 1934)
 * 21 April – Albert Weisgerber, German painter (died 1915)
 * 10 May – Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor 1923, Foreign Minister 1923–29, Nobel laureate (died 1929)
 * 30 May – Hermine Körner, German actress (died 1960)
 * 4 June – Ludwig Dürr, German airship designer (died 1956)
 * 10 July – Otto Freundlich, German painter, sculptor (died 1943)
 * 16 July – Andreas Hermes, German politician (died 1964)
 * 26 July – Ernst Hoppenberg, German swimmer (died 1937)
 * 10 August – Alfred Döblin, German novelist, essayist and writer (died 1957)
 * 13 August – Arthur Biram, Israeli philosopher, philologist, and educator (died 1967)
 * 17 August – Paul Troost, German architect (died 1934)
 * 2 September – Werner von Blomberg, German Minister of War, and Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces (died 1946)
 * 16 September – Karl Albiker, German sculptor (died 1961)
 * 26 September – Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord, German general (died 1943)
 * 29 October – Alexander von Falkenhausen, German general (died 1966)
 * 30 October – Arthur Scherbius, German electrical engineer (died 1929)
 * 21 November – Gustav Radbruch, German legal scholar and politician (died 1949)
 * 15 December – Hans Carossa, German novelist (died 1956)
 * 30 December – Rudolf Petersen, German politician (died 1962)

Deaths

 * 8 March – Wilhelm Siegmund Teuffel, German classical scholar (born 1820)
 * 20 March – Julius von Mayer, German physician and physicist (born 1814)
 * 23 March – Ernst Keil, German journalist and publisher (born 1816)
 * 25 May – Andreas von Ettingshausen, German mathematician and physicist (born 1796)
 * 12 June – George V of Hanover, last King of Hanover (born 1819)
 * 12 September – Friedrich August von Alberti, German geologist (born 1795)
 * 25 September – August Heinrich Petermann, German cartographer (born 1822)
 * 4 October – Johannes Rebmann, German missionary (born 1820)
 * 4 November – Ludwig Meyn, German agricultural scientist, soil scientist, geologist, journalist and mineralogist (born 1820)
 * 17 November – Karl Theodor Keim, Protestant theologian (born 1825)
 * 10 December – Heinrich Burgers, German journalist and politician (born 1820)
 * 14 December - Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine (born 1843 in the United Kingdom)
 * 16 December – Richard Hartmann, German engineering manufacturer (born 1809)