1890 in Germany

← 1889 1888 1887 1890 in Germany → 1891 1892 1893
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	Other events of 1890 History of Germany  • Timeline  • Years

Events in the year 1890 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

• Emperor – Wilhelm II ^[1]
• Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck to March 20, then Leo von Caprivi

State level

Kingdoms

• King of Bavaria – Otto
• King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
• 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 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 to 12 March, then Günther Victor, 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 (acting governor)(2nd term) to (17 April), then Markus Graf Pfeil, to 3 August, then ... Kurz (acting governor) to December 2, then Jesko von Puttkamer (acting governor)(2nd term)
• German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Hermann Wissmann (commissioner)(1st term)
• German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Fritz Rose (acting commissioner to 30 September, then commissioner)
• German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner) to August, then Louis Nels (acting commissioner)
• Togoland – Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
• Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident) to 1 July

Events

• 5 February – German company Allianz is founded in Berlin. ^[2]
• 20 February – German federal election, 1890. ^{[3] [4]}
• 18 March Otto von Bismarck resigned ^[5] . From 1862 to 1890, he held office as the minister president and foreign minister of Prussia
  Main article: Otto von Bismarck
• 20 March - Leo von Caprivi shift begins
• 20 March – Bismarck cabinet ends.
• 30 April - Founding of the German Naval League
• May - Introduction of the Old Age and Disability Insurance Law
• 31 May — The Ulm Minster is completed as the world's tallest cathedral.
• 1 July — Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty. Germany receives Heligoland and the Caprivi Strip from the United Kingdom and a free hand to control and acquire the coast of Dar es Salaam. In return, Germany renounces its protectorate over Wituland (part of modern-day Kenya) and pledges not to interfere in the actions of the UK vis-à-vis the Sultanate of Zanzibar. The U.K. cedes sovereignty of the Heligoland archipelago to Germany.
• 16 July - German company Mannesmann is founded in Düsseldorf.
• August — Kaiser Wilhelm and Tsar Alexander III of Russia meet at Narva.

Date unknown

• German physician and physiologist Emil von Behring publishes an article with Kitasato Shibasaburo reporting that they have developed "antitoxins" against both diphtheria and tetanus in Berlin.
• Founding of the literary magazine Neue Rundschau - the magazine was founded in 1890 (initially as Freie Bühne für modernes Leben) by Otto Brahm and S. Fischer Verlag in Berlin. ^[6]

Births

• 9 January – Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist, satirist and writer (died 1935)
• 30 January – Albert Zürner, German diver (died 1920)
• 6 February – Karl Schelenz, German sport teacher (died 1956)
• 20 February – Georg Thomas, German general (died 1946)
• 5 March – Wilhelm Boden, German politician (died 1961)
• 22 March – Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, German politician (died 1945)
• 22 April – Erwin Jaenecke, German general (died 1960)
• 10 May – Alfred Jodl, German general (died 1946)
• 15 June – Wilhelm Leuschner, German politician (died 1944)
• 25 June – Hans Marchwitza, German writer and poet (died 1965)
• 4 July – Otto Feick, German gymnast (died 1959)
• 8 July – Walter Hasenclever, German poet and playwright (died 1940)
• 29 July – Elisabeth von Thadden, German educator and resistance fighter (died 1944)
• 30 July – Ludwig Schwamb, German politician (died 1945)
• 3 August – Eduard Zuckmayer, German writer and playwright (died 1972)
• 4 August – Erich Weinert, German author (died 1953)
• 14 August – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and Nazi war criminal (died 1946)
• 18 August – Walther Funk, German banker and economist (died 1960)
• 19 August – Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern, German-born Queen consort of Portugal in exile (d. 1966)
• 22 August – Hans-Joachim Buddecke, German World War I fighter pilot and ace (died 1918)
• 16 September – Traugott Herr, German general (died 1976)
• 21 September – Max Immelmann, German World War I fighter ace (died 1916)
• 23 September – Friedrich Paulus, German field marshal (died 1957)
• 8 October – Henrich Focke, German aviation pioneer (d. 1979)
• 10 October – Emil Schäpe, German fighter pilot (died 1925)
• 29 October – Hans-Valentin Hube, German army general (d. 1944)
• 8 November – Conrad Weygand, German chemist (died 1945)
• 2 December – C. Paul Jennewein, German-American sculptor (died 1978)
• 6 December:
  • Hans Bethge, German pilot (died 1918)
  • Carl Jules Weyl, German-American art director and Reichswehr soldier (died 1948)
• 17 December – Prince Joachim of Prussia, German nobleman (died 1920)

Deaths

• 7 January - Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German queen (born 1811)
• 20 January – Franz Lachner, German composer and conductor (born 1803)
• 27 January – Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal, German psychiatrist (born 1833)
• 18 March – Johann Georg Halske, German businessman (born 1814)
• 19 March – George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, German nobleman (born 1838)
• 27 March – Carl Jacob Löwig, German chemist (born 1803)
• 30 April – Hermann von Dechend, German politician who served as the first President of the Reichsbank (born 1814)
• 26 May – Adelbert Delbrück, German banker and businessman (born 1822)
• 27 August - Emil Otto Grundmann, German painter (born 1844)
• 3 September - Johann von Lutz, German politician (born 1826)
• 15 September – Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Krauss, German scientist (born 1812)
• 19 September – Friedrich Gaedcke, German chemist (born 1828)
• 23 September - Lorenz von Stein, German economist and sociologist (born 1815)
• 4 November - Helene Demuth, German housekeeper (born 1820)
• 3 December – Gottfried Ludolf Camphausen, German politician (born 1803)
• 26 December - Heinrich Schliemann, German businessman and a pioneer in the field of archaeology (born 1822)

Citations

1. "BBC - History - Historic Figures: Wilhelm II (1859 - 1941)". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-01-30.
2. Werner Meyer-Larsen (2000). Germany, Inc: the new German juggernaut and its challenge to world business. John Wiley. p. 130. ISBN   9780471353577 . Retrieved 16 July 2013.
3. Dunning, Wm. A. (1890). "Record of Political Events" . Political Science Quarterly. 5 (2): 380–381. doi:10.2307/2139573. ISSN   0032-3195. JSTOR   2139573.
4. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p762 ISBN   978-3-8329-5609-7
5. "The fall of Bismarck". Britannica. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
6. "n2:0932-2523 - Search Results". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2025-11-22.