1879 in Germany

← 1878 1877 1876 1879 in Germany → 1880 1881 1882
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	Other events of 1879 History of Germany  • Timeline  • Years

Events from the year 1879 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

• Kaiser – William I
• Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

State level

Kingdoms

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

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 company Linde was founded.
• 31 May – German inventor Werner von Siemens demonstrates the first electric locomotive using an external power source at Berlin.
• 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)