# 1886 in Germany

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive
Events in the year 1886 in Germany.

## Incumbents
### National level

* Kaiser – William I
* Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

### State level
#### Kingdoms

* King of Bavaria – Ludwig II to 13 June, then Otto
* 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 – Charles Gonthier, 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) – Julius Freiherr von Soden (1st term)
* German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Karl Peters (administrator)
* German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Gustav von Oertzen (commissioner); also from 10 June Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz (Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
* German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
* Togoland – Ernst Falkenthal (commissioner)
* Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident)

## Events

* 6 February – German chemist Clemens Winkler discovers chemical element Germanium.
* 14 November – Friedrich Soennecken files his patent for his holepunch Papierlocher für Sammelmappen.
* 15 November – Robert Bosch GmbH is founded.

### Undated

* German Friedrich Soennecken invents the ring binder in Bonn.
* Neuschwanstein Castle is completed.

## Births

* Undated – Martin Laurello, German sideshow performer (died 1955)
* Undated – Otto Wunderlich, German landscape photographer (died in 1975)
* 2 January – Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel German general (died 1944)
* 25 January – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor and composer (died 1954)
* 14 February – Karl Reinhardt, German philologist (died 1958)
* 6 March – Fritz Goerdeler, German jurist (died 1945)
* 10 March – Eugen Klöpfer, German actor (died 1950)
* 18 March – Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, German Imperial Naval submarine captain in World War I and Kriegsmarine Rear admiral (died 1941)
* 27 March – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect (died 1969)
* 16 April – Ernst Thälmann, German politician (died 1944)
* 1 May – Walter Cramer, German businessman (died 1944)
* 2 May – Gottfried Benn, German poet and essayist (died 1956)
* 3 May – Kurt von Briesen, German general (died 1941)
* 5 June – Kurt Hahn, German educator (died 1974)
* 7 August – Paul Westheim, German art historian and publisher (died 1963)
* 15 August – Karl Korsch, German politician (died 1961)
* 19 August – Robert Heger, German conductor (died 1878)
* 20 August – Paul Tillich, Christian existentialist philosopher and Lutheran Protestant theologian (died 1965)
* 25 August – Johannes Stroux, German philologist and writer (died 1954)
* 14 September – Erich Hoepner, German general (died 1944)
* 20 September – Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German crown princess (died 1954)
* 4 October – Erich Fellgiebel, German general (died 1944)
* 7 October – Kurt Schmitt, German economic leader and the Reich Economy Minister (died 1950)
* 15 October – Rudolf von Marogna-Redwitz, German colonel (died 1944)
* 26 October – Hanns Braun, German athlete (died 2018)
* 6 November – Gus Kahn, German-American songwriter (died 1941)
* 7 November – Reinhold Schünzel, German actor (died 1954)
* 28 November – Cornelius van Oyen, German sport shooter (died 1954)
* 25 December:
** Gotthard Heinrici, German general (died 1971)
** Franz Rosenzweig, German theologian and philosopher (died 1929)

## Deaths

* 9 April – Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and novelist (born 1826)
* 23 May – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (born 1795)
* 13 June – Ludwig II, King of Bavaria (born 1845)
* 31 July – Franz Liszt, Alleged Symphonic Lich)