1873 in Germany

← 1872 1871 1870 1873 in Germany → 1874 1875 1876
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	Other events of 1873 List of years in Germany

Events in the year 1873 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 — John of Saxony to 29 October, then Albert of Saxony
• King of Württemberg — Charles of Württemberg

Grand Duchies

• Grand Duke of Baden — Frederick I
• Grand Duke of Hesse — Louis III
• 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 — Günther Friedrich Karl II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
• Principality of Lippe — Leopold III, 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 — Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• Duke of Saxe-Meiningen — Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Events

• 16 September — German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War.
• 22 October — Bismarck negotiates the League of the Three Emperors, ensuring an alliance between Austria–Hungary and the Russian Empire.

• Kattowitz is created as a district of Prussia.

Architecture

• 2 September — Berlin Victory Column inaugurated to celebrate the Second Schleswig War.

Arts

Music

• Johannes Brahms premieres his String Quartet No. 1, Variations on a Theme by Haydn.

Commerce

• The Baden gulden, the Bavarian gulden, the Bremen thaler, the Hamburg mark, the Hesse-Kassel vereinsthaler, the Mecklenburg vereinsthaler, the Prussian vereinsthaler, the Saxon vereinsthaler, the South German gulden and the Württemberg gulden are all abolished and replaced with the new single currency of the German Empire, the German gold mark.

Education

• Establishment of the University of the Arts Bremen.
• German language university, the Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule, established in Cairo, Egypt.
• Verein für Socialpolitik established.

Science

• Hermann von Helmholtz is awarded the Copley Medal "for his researches in physics and physiology".

Transport

• Frankfurt South station opened.
• The armoured frigate SMS Preußen is launched.

Births

• 6 January — Karl Straube, organist (died 1950)
• 13 January — Walther Bensemann, Jewish-German association football pioneer (died 1934, France)
• 24 January — Hermann Haupt, entomologist (died 1959)
• 31 January — Melitta Bentz, entrepreneur (died 1950)
• 26 February — Rudolf Kanzler, German politician (died 1956)
• 2 February — Konstantin von Neurath, German diplomat (died 1956)
• 10 March — Walter Friedländer, art historian (died 1966)
• 10 March — Jakob Wassermann, Jewish-German novelist (died 1934)
• 17 March — Wilhelm Kreis, architect (died 1955)
• 19 March - Max Reger, modernist composer, pianist, conductor, writer and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory.
• 23 March — Richard Kolkwitz, botanist (died 1956)
• 7 April — Friedrich von Oppeln-Bronikowski, writer (died 1936)
• 27 April — Robert Wiene, filmmaker (died 1938)
• 3 May — Richard von Kühlmann, German diplomat (died 1948)
• 14 May — Theodor von der Pfordten, so-called Nazi 'martyr' (died 1923)
• 21 May — Hans Berger, neurologist (died 1941)
• 26 May — Hans Ludendorff, astronomer (died 1941)
• 7 June — Franz Weidenreich, Jewish-German, later American, anatomist (died 1948)
• 16 June — Karl von Müller, Naval captain (died 1923)
• 27 June — Jacob Moritz Blumberg, Jewish-German, later British, surgeon (died 1955)
• 29 June — Leo Frobenius, ethnologist (died 1938, Italy)
• 30 June — Friedrich Karl Georg Fedde, botanist (died 1942)
• 6 August — Otto von Feldmann, Army officer (died 1945)
• 20 August — Eugen Schmalenbach, economist (died 1955)
• 15 September — Otto Wels, politician (died 1939)
• 29 September — Carl Wilhelm Erich Zimmer, zoologist (died 1950)
• 9 October — Karl Schwarzschild, Jewish-German physicist (died 1916)
• 10 October — Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg, explorer (died 1969)
• 9 November — Fritz Thyssen, German industrialist (died 1951, Argentina)
• 23 November — Otto Berg, chemist (died 1939)
• 27 December — Rudolf Höber, German-born American physician (died 1953)
• 28 December — Gotthard Fliegel, geographer (died 1947)

Deaths

• 2 February - Princess Charlotte of Württemberg, noblewoman (born 1807)
• 9 February - Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, noblewoman (born 1792)
• 9 February - Julius Fürst, Jewish-German orientalist (born 1805)
• 23 February - Jakob Freiherr von Hartmann, Bavarian general (born 1795)
• 10 March - Pauline Therese of Württemberg, Queen consort of Württemberg (born 1800)
• 26 March - Albrecht von Bernstorff, Prussian politician (born 1809)
• 18 April - Justus von Liebig, chemist (born 1803)
• 24 April - Prince Adolf zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, Prussian nobleman (born 1797)
• 12 May - Karl von Bodelschwingh-Velmede, Prussian politician (born 1800)
• 6 June - Adalbert of Prussia, prince (born 1811)
• 14 June - Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, historian (born 1871)
• 21 June - Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, theologian (born 1800)
• 29 June - Wolfgang Müller von Königswinter, novelist (born 1816)
• 8 July - Franz Xaver Winterhalter, painter (born 1805)
• 13 August - Fritz Bamberger (painter), painter (b .1814)
• 18 August - Charles II, Duke of Brunswick, nobleman (born 1804)
• 22 September - August Breithaupt, mineralogist (born 1791)
• 10 October - Hermann Kurz, writer (born 1813)
• 13 October - Emil von Sydow, geographer (born 1812)
• 29 October - John, King of Saxony (born 1801)
• 26 November - Georg Amadeus Carl Friedrich Naumann, mineralogist (born 1797)
• 14 December - Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, Queen consort of Prussia (born 1801)