1888 in Germany

← 1887 1886 1885 1888 in Germany → 1889 1890 1891
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
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, 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

• 14 January – Karl Badberger, architect (date of death unknown)
• 17 February – Otto Stern, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1969)
• 27 February – Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (died 1976)
• 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)
• 17 April – Herms Niel, German composer (died 1954)
• 24 July – Hermann von Bönninghausen, German athlete and soldier in World War I (died 1919)
• 4 September – Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor and choreographer (died 1943)
• 20 December – Yitzhak Baer, Israeli historian (died 1980)

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)