1879 in Germany

Events from the year 1879 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

 * 12 July – The German tariff of 1879 is voted for by a majority of 100 in the Reichstag.
 * 21 June – German chemical company Linde is founded.
 * 31 May – German inventor Werner von Siemens demonstrates the first electric locomotive using an external power source at Berlin.
 * 26 September – Wilhelm Marr founds the Antisemitenliga (League of Antisemites), the first German organization committed specifically to combating the alleged threat to German culture posed by Jews.
 * 7 October – A defensive alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary is created by treaty.
 * 31 December – Karl Benz produces a two-stroke gas engine.

Births

 * 4 February – Wilhelm von Gayl, German politician (died 1945)
 * 25 February – Julius Falkenstein, German actor (died 1933)
 * 2 March – Johann Viktor Bredt, German jurist and politician (died 1940)
 * 8 March – Otto Hahn, German chemist and pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry (died 1968)
 * 9 March – Agnes Miegel, German poet (died 1964)
 * 10 March – Hans Luther, German politician, briefly Chancellor of Germany (died 1962)
 * 12 March – Alfred Abel, German actor (died 1837)
 * 14 March – Albert Einstein, German-Swiss theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity (died 1955)
 * 27 April – Alfred Roth, German politician and writer (died 1948)
 * 31 May – F.W. Schröder-Schrom, German actor (died 1956)
 * 28 May – Albert Grzesinski, German politician (died 1948)
 * 6 September
 * Max Schreck, German actor (died 1936)
 * Joseph Wirth, German politician, former Chancellor of Germany (died 1956)
 * 9 October – Max von Laue, German physicist (died 1960)
 * 28 October – Martin Kirschner, German surgeon (died 1942)
 * 29 October – Franz von Papen, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1969)
 * 1 November – Oskar Barnack, German inventor and German photographer (died 1936)
 * 14 December – Hermann Dietrich, German politician (died 1954)
 * 16 December – Otto Ludwig Haas-Heye, German fashion designer (died 1959)

Deaths

 * 24 January – Heinrich Geißler, German physicist (born 1814
 * 23 February – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and statesman, minister of War from 1859 to 1873, (born 1803)
 * 25 February – Karl Wilhelm von Willisen, Prussian general (born 1790)
 * 13 March – Adolf Anderssen, German chess master (born 1818)
 * 4 April – Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist and meteorologist (born 1803)
 * 11 May – Bernhard Wolff, German newspaper publisher (born 1811)
 * 15 May – Gottfried Semper, German architect (born 1803)
 * 5 June – August Krönig, German chemist and physicist (born 1822)
 * 7 September – George Westermann, German publisher (born 1810)
 * 23 August – Alexander Duncker, German publisher (born 1813)
 * 20 October – Bernhard Ernst von Bülow, German diplomat and politician (born 1815)
 * 1 December – Franz Ittenbach, German painter (born 1813)