1888 in Germany
Appearance
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See also: | Other events of 1888 History of Germany • Timeline • Years |
Events in the year 1888 in Germany, the 'Year of the Three Emperors'.
Incumbents
National level
- Kaiser – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
- Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck
State level
Kingdoms
- King of Bavaria – Otto of Bavaria
- King of Prussia – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II (all Kaisers of the German Empire)
- 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 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
- 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 (1st term) to 17 January, then Julius Freiherr von Soden (2nd term)
- German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Karl Peters (administrator) to 8 February, then Hermann Wissmann (commissioner) (1st term)
- German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz to 1 March, then Reinhold Kraetke (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
- German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
- Togoland – Jesko von Puttkamer (acting commissioner) (1st term) to 17 October, then Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
- Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident)
Events
- 9 March – Emperor Wilhelm I dies at the age of 90 in Berlin. He is succeeded by his oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, who becomes Friedrich III.
- 16 April – The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru
- 15 June – Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor after the death of his father, Friedrich III.
- August – In early August 1888,[1] without her husband's knowledge, Bertha Benz, with her sons Richard (aged 14) and Eugen (aged 15), drove in Benz's newly constructed Patent Motorwagen No. 3 automobile, from Mannheim to her own birthplace, Pforzheim, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over more than a very short distance
- 13 December – Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciences
- undated - Karl Benz, inventor of the modern automobile, had to receive written permission driver's licence from the [[Gr
Literature
- 'Theses on Feuerbach' by Karl Marx is published posthumously
Music
- Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
- Max Reger – String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888–89)
- Joseph Rheinberger — Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
- Richard Strauss
- Don Juan, Macbeth (first version)
- Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos completed posthumously by Theodor Hell
Sport
- Establishment of association football clubs BFC Germania, TGM SV Jügesheim and KBC Duisburg
Miscellaneous
- First buildings of the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil opened
Births
- 4 January – Walther Kossel, German physicist (died 1956)
- 8 January – Richard Courant, German mathematician (died 1972)
- 14 January — Karl Badberger, architect (date of death unknown)
- 24 January – Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer (died 1958)
- 8 February – Jakob Kaiser, German politician (died 1961)
- 12 February – Hans Graf von Sponeck, German general (died 1944)
- 14 February – Hermann Reinecke, Wehrmacht general (died 1973)
- 17 February — Otto Stern, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969)
- 27 February — Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (died 1976)
- 12 March – Hans Knappertsbusch, German conductor (died 1965)
- 14 March:
- Peretz Naftali, German-born Israeli politician (died 1961)
- Hermann Reinecke, Wehrmacht general and convicted war criminal (died 1973)
- 19 March — Josef Albers, German-American artist (died 1976)
- 1 April – Hermann Pünder, German politician (died 1976)
- 6 April – Hans Richter, German painter and graphic artist (died 1976)
- 17 April — Herms Niel, German composer (died 1954)
- 4 May – Rudolf Arnold Nieberding, German politician (died 1912)
- 12 May – Fritz Schäffer, German politician (died 1967)
- 13 May – Alfred Braun, German actor and film director (died 1978)
- 30 June – Rudolf Amelunxen, German politician (died 1969)
- 11 July – Carl Schmitt, German jurist and political theorist (died 1985)
- 15 July – Ernst von Harnack, German politician (died 1945)
- 24 July — Hermann von Bönninghausen, German athlete and soldier in World War I (died 1919)
- 27 July – Prince Oskar of Prussia, German nobleman (died 1958)
- 3 August – Ferdinand von Lüninck, German officer (died 1944)
- 30 August – Walther Penck, German geologist and geomorphologist (died 1923)
- 3 September – Hans-Friedrich Blunck, German jurist and writer (died 1961)
- 4 September — Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor and choreographer (died 1943)
- 29 September – Michael Graf von Matuschka, German politician (died 1944)
- 4 October – Friedrich Olbricht, German general (died 1944)
- 8 October – Friedrich Fromm, German general (died 1945)
- 7 November – Karl Ritter, German film producer (died 1977)
- 11 November – Hans von Salmuth, German general (died 1962)
- 11 December – Wilhelm Kühne, German pilot (died 1918)
- 20 December — Yitzhak Baer, Israeli historian (died 1980)
- 27 December – Thea von Harbou, German actress, novelist and film director (died 1954)
- 28 December – Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German film director (died 1931)
Deaths
- 9 March – William I, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (born 1797)
- 5 April – Eduard Karl August Riehm, German Protestant theologian (born 1830)
- 16 April – Friedrich Grillo, German industrialist (born 1825)
- 15 June – Frederick III, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia (born 1831)
- 20 June – Karl Friedrich August Kahnis, German Protestant theologian (born 1814)
- 20 July – Paul Langerhans German pathologist, physiologist and biologist (born 1847)
- 23 July – Johannes Heinrich August Ebrard, German Protestant theologian (born 1818)
- 24 August – Rudolf Clausius, German physicist and mathematician (born 1822)
- 28 August – Georg Beseler, German politician and jurist (born 1809)
- 12 September – August von Werder, German general (born 1808)
- 3 December – Carl Zeiss, German entrepreneur and scientist (born 1816)
- ^ Winfried A. Seidel: Carl Benz. Eine badische Geschichte. Edition Diesbach, Weinheim 2005, ISBN 3-936468-29-X., page 43