# 1879 in Germany

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive
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
* 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)