1890 in Germany

Events in the year 1890 in Germany.

National level

 * Kaiser – Wilhelm II
 * Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck to March 20, then Leo von Caprivi

Kingdoms

 * King of Bavaria – Otto
 * King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
 * 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 III
 * 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 to 12 March, then Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
 * Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Karl Günther, 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 – Prince Albert of Prussia (regent)
 * 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

Colonial Governors

 * Cameroon (Kamerun) – Eugen von Zimmerer (acting governor) (2nd term) to (17 April), then Markus Graf Pfeil, to 3 August, then ... Kurz (acting governor) to December 2, then Jesko von Puttkamer (acting governor) (2nd term)
 * German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Hermann Wissmann (commissioner) (1st term)
 * German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Fritz Rose (acting commissioner to 30 September, then commissioner)
 * German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner) to August, then Louis Nels (acting commissioner)
 * Togoland – Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
 * Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident) to 1 July

Events

 * 5 February – German company Allianz is founded in Berlin.
 * 20 February – German federal election, 1890.
 * 20 March – Bismarck cabinet ends.
 * 1 July — Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty. Germany receives Heligoland and the Caprivi Strip from the United Kingdom and a free hand to control and acquire the coast of Dar es Salaam. In return, Germany renounces its protectorate over Wituland (part of modern-day Kenya) and pledges not to interfere in the actions of the UK vis-à-vis the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The U.K. cedes sovereignty of the Heligoland archipelago to Germany.
 * 16 July - German company Mannesmann is founded in Düsseldorf.
 * August — Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Alexander III of Russia meet at Narva.

Date unknown

 * German physician and physiologist Emil von Behring publishes an article with Kitasato Shibasaburo reporting that they have developed "antitoxins" against both diphtheria and tetanus in Berlin.

Births

 * 9 January – Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist, satirist and writer (died 1935)
 * 30 January – Albert Zürner, German diver (died 1920)
 * 6 February – Karl Schelenz, German sport teacher (died 1956)
 * 20 February – Georg Thomas, German general (died 1946)
 * 5 March – Wilhelm Boden, German politician (died 1961)
 * 22 March – Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, German politician (died 1945)
 * 22 April – Erwin Jaenecke, German general (died 1960)
 * 10 May – Alfred Jodl, German general (died 1946)
 * 15 June – Wilhelm Leuschner, German politician (died 1944)
 * 25 June – Hans Marchwitza, German writer and poet (died 1965)
 * 4 July – Otto Feick, German gymnast (died 1959)
 * 8 July – Walter Hasenclever, German poet and playwright (died 1940)
 * 29 July – Elisabeth von Thadden, German educator and resistance fighter (died 1944)
 * 30 July – Ludwig Schwamb, German politician (died 1945)
 * 3 August – Eduard Zuckmayer, German writer and playwright (died 1972)
 * 4 August – Erich Weinert, German author (died 1953)
 * 14 August – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and Nazi war criminal (died 1946)
 * 18 August – Walther Funk, German banker and economist (died 1960)
 * 19 August – Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern, German-born Queen consort of Portugal in exile (d. 1966)
 * 22 August – Hans-Joachim Buddecke, German World War I fighter pilot and ace (died 1918)
 * 16 September – Traugott Herr, German general (died 1976)
 * 21 September – Max Immelmann, German World War I fighter ace (died 1916)
 * 23 September – Friedrich Paulus, German field marshal (died 1957)
 * 8 October – Henrich Focke, German aviation pioneer (d. 1979)
 * 10 October – Emil Schäpe, German fighter pilot (died 1925)
 * 29 October – Hans-Valentin Hube, German army general (d. 1944)
 * 8 November – Conrad Weygand, German chemist (died 1945)
 * 2 December – C. Paul Jennewein, German-American sculptor (died 1978)
 * 6 December:
 * Hans Bethge, German pilot (died 1918)
 * Carl Jules Weyl, German-American art director and Reichswehr soldier (died 1948)
 * 17 December – Prince Joachim of Prussia, German nobleman (died 1920)

Deaths

 * 7 January - Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German queen (born 1811)
 * 20 January – Franz Lachner, German composer and conductor (born 1803)
 * 27 January – Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal, German psychiatrist (born 1833)
 * 18 March – Johann Georg Halske, German businessman (born 1814)
 * 19 March – George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German nobleman (born 1838)
 * 27 March – Carl Jacob Löwig, German chemist (born 1803)
 * 30 April – Hermann von Dechend, German politician who served as the first President of the Reichsbank (born 1814)
 * 26 May – Adelbert Delbrück, German banker and businessman (born 1822)
 * 27 August - Emil Otto Grundmann, German painter (born 1844)
 * 3 September - Johann von Lutz, German politician (born 1826)
 * 15 September – Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Krauss, German scientist (born 1812)
 * 19 September – Friedrich Gaedcke, German chemist (born 1828)
 * 23 September - Lorenz von Stein, German economist and sociologist (born 1815)
 * 4 November - Helene Demuth, German housekeeper (born 1820)
 * 3 December – Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen, German politician (born 1803)
 * 26 December - Heinrich Schliemann, German businessman and a pioneer in the field of archaeology (born 1822)