Timeline of the German Empire

{{See also|German question}}

File:Deutscher Bund.svg, outlined in red. The dotted line in the northeast shows the area that joined the Confederation after the 1848 revolution.]]

• 9 June: The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna created the German Confederation of 39 states from the territories of the former Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which had been abolished in 1806.{{Cite web |last=Lesaffer |first=Randall |title=The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) |url=https://opil.ouplaw.com/page/477 |access-date=19 December 2024 |website=Oxford Public International Law }}
• 10 June: The Constitution of the German Confederation, dated 8 June 1815, was formally signed at the Congress of Vienna.{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=10 October 2014 |title=Die Deutsche Bundesakte von 1815 |trans-title=The German Federal Act of 1815 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/vormaerz-und-revolution/wiener-kongress/bundesakte |access-date=19 December 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de }}

• 1 January: The German Customs Union ({{Lang|de|Zollverein}}), which was independent of the German Confederation, came into effect. It created a free-trade zone that initially included eighteen states and was an early step towards the unification of Germany.{{Cite web |date=2002 |title=Zollverein. German Customs Union |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Zollverein |access-date=19 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}

• 27 February: Triggered by the overthrow of King Louis Philippe of France, the ultimately unsuccessful German revolutions of 1848–1849 began.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=The revolutions of 1848–49 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-revolutions-of-1848-49 |access-date=19 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}
• 18 May: The Frankfurt National Assembly, elected to create a united Germany and write a constitution for it, opened its first session in St. Paul's Church.{{Cite web |title=Revolution and the National Assembly in Frankfurt am Main 1848/1849 |url=https://www.bundestag.de/en/parliament/history/parliamentarism/1848/1848-200350 |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=Deutscher Bundestag }}

• 29 November: In the Punctation of Olmütz, the Kingdom of Prussia abandoned its plans to create a German federation under Prussia's leadership without the inclusion of the Austrian Empire, and agreement was reached to revive the German Confederation, which included Austria.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Punctation of Olmütz |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Punctation-of-Olmutz |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}

• 30 May: The Federal Convention, the deliberating body of the German Confederation, was re-established following the collapse of the 1848 revolution and the revival of the Confederation.{{Cite book |url=http://www.zeno.org/Pierer-1857/A/Deutscher+Bund |title=Pierer's Universal-Lexikon |publisher=H.A. Perier Verlagsbuchhandlung |year=1858 |editor-last=Pierer |editor-first=Heinrich August |volume=4 |location=Altenburg |pages=879–882 |language=de }}

File:Map-NDB.svg is in red. The states that joined the Confederation to form the German Empire in 1871 are in orange. Alsace-Lorraine, the territory annexed from France following the Franco-Prussian War, is in a paler orange.]]

• 14 June: The Austro-Prussian War began.{{Cite web |last=Hofmeier |first=Franz |date=2016 |title=Nord gegen Süd. Der Deutsche Krieg 1866 |trans-title=North Against South. The German War 1866 |page=34 |url=https://www.armeemuseum.de/images/sonderausstellungen/2016_krieg_1866/Lehrerhandreichung_1866.pdf |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=Bayerisches Armeemuseum |language=de }} Prussia under Otto von Bismarck used the situation in Schleswig-Holstein as a pretext to challenge Austria for the leadership of the Confederation.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Seven Weeks' War 1866 |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Seven-Weeks-War |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}
• 3 July: In the Battle of Königgrätz, Prussia resoundingly defeated the Austrian side.{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Battle of Königgrätz |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Koniggratz |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}
• 18 August: The North German Confederation Treaty was signed in Berlin. It bound the parties into a military alliance and to an agreement to negotiate the creation of a formal federation.{{Cite web |title=Norddeutscher Bund (1866–1870) |trans-title=North German Confederation (1866–1870) |url=http://www.ekomp.digihist.de/Dokumentation_Datensaetze/Multimedia/Staatenwelten/Norddeutscher_Bund.pdf |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=HGIS Germany |language=de }}
• 23 August: The Treaty of Prague formally ended the Austro-Prussian War. Prussia gained new territory, and the "German question" of a greater or lesser Germany (i.e. with or without Austria) was settled in favor of the latter.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Defeat of Austria |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-defeat-of-Austria#ref297536 |access-date=20 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}

• 1 July: The North German Constitution, which had been approved by the Reichstag on 16 April, came into effect and formally established the 22-state North German Confederation.

• 19 July: The Franco-Prussian War began when France declared war on Prussia.{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Franco-German War |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Franco-German-War |access-date=22 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}
• 1–2 September: In the Battle of Sedan, Emperor Napoleon III of France and 103,000 of his troops were captured. Even though the French Second Empire fell, the war continued under the Third Republic.{{Cite web |last=Swift |first=John |date=2024 |title=Battle of Sedan |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Sedan |access-date=23 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}
• 9 December: The Reichstag approved the Constitution of the German Confederation (1871). It was based largely on the Constitution of the North German Confederation with the addition of agreements between it and some the south German states that later joined the Empire.{{Cite book |last=Lerman |first=Katharine Anne |url={{Google books|1AStAgAAQBAJ|page=154|plainurl=yes}} |title=Bismarck |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |location=Milton Park, UK |page=154}}
• 10 December: The North German Confederation renamed itself the German Empire.

{{Cite web |last=Blume |first=Doris |date=4 September 2014 |title=Chronik 1970 |trans-title=Chronicle 1870 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/jahreschronik/1870 |access-date=26 December 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}

File:A v Werner - Kaiserproklamation am 18 Januar 1871 (3. Fassung 1885) (cropped).jpg as German Kaiser, by Anton von Werner. ]]

• 1 January: The interim Constitution of the German Confederation (1871), which had been approved by the North German Reichstag on 9 December 1870, came into effect.{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Vor 150 Jahren: Konstituierende Sitzung des ersten Reichstages |trans-title=150 Years Ago: Inaugural Session of the First Reichstag |url=https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2021/kw11-kalenderblatt-150jahre-reichstag-828278 |access-date=26 January 2025 |website=Deutscher Bundestag |language=de}}
• 18 January: The German Empire was proclaimed at a ceremony in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, was proclaimed Kaiser.{{Cite web |title=Proclamation of the German Empire, 1871 |url=https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/proclamation-german-empire-1871#:~:text=Proclamation%20of%20the%20German%20Empire%2C%201871%2018%20January%201871&text=At%20the%20end%20of%20the,Germany%20finally%20had%20its%20revenge. |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=Chateau de Versailles }}
• 28 January: The German siege of Paris, the last battle of the Franco-Prussian War, ended with the capitulation of the city. The Armistice of Versailles signed the same day formally ended the fighting.{{Cite book |last=Tomuschat |first=Christian |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/peace-treaties-and-international-law-in-european-history/1871-peace-treaty-between-france-and-germany-and-the-1919-peace-treaty-of-versailles/A9DB264EBC904ECA6E1A8A47E7A012A6 |title=Peace Treaties and International Law in European History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-511-49423-9 |editor-last=Lesaffer |editor-first=Randall |location=Cambridge, UK |pages=382–396 |chapter=The 1871 Peace Treaty between France and Germany and the 1919 Peace Treaty of Versailles |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511494239.018}}
• 26 February: The preliminary Treaty of Versailles (1871) between France and the German Empire was signed.
• 3 March: The first election for the Reichstag of the German Empire took place under universal manhood suffrage.{{Cite web |title=Elections in the Empire 1871–1918 |url=https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/189790/1907ef7ab16a75a7048c04b3d2558f00/elections_empire.pdf |access-date=28 December 2024 |website=Deutscher Bundestag}} The National Liberals won the largest number of seats (117 out of 382).{{Cite web |title=Wahlen in Deutschland bis 1918. Reichstag Wahlen |trans-title=Elections in Germany to 1918. Reichstag Elections |url=https://wahlen-in-deutschland.de/krtw.htm |access-date=28 December 2024 |website=Wahlen in Deutschland |language=de}}
• 21 March: The new Reichstag, with Otto von Bismarck as chancellor, held its first session in the Prussian House of Lords building in Berlin.{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Vor 150 Jahren: Konstituierende Sitzung des ersten Reichstages |trans-title=150 Years Ago: Inaugural Session of the first Reichstag |url=https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2021/kw11-kalenderblatt-150jahre-reichstag-828278 |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=Deutscher Bundestag |language=de}}

File:Otto von Bismarck portrait 1873.jpg in 1873]]

• 16 April: Kaiser Wilhelm I signed the new Constitution of the German Empire which the Reichstag had approved overwhelmingly two days earlier.{{Cite web |last=Leicht |first=Johannes |date=11 November 2022 |title=Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches |trans-title=The Constitution of the German Empire |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/kaiserreich/reich/verfassung |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}} It came into effect on 4 May.{{Cite web |title=Constitution of the German Empire (April 16, 1871) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1826 |access-date=27 December 2024 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}
• 10 May: France and Germany signed the Treaty of Frankfurt, ending the Franco-Prussian War. Among other requirements, France ceded Alsace–Lorraine and agreed to pay an indemnity of five billion gold francs.{{Cite web |last=Esmer |first=Melith |date=29 August 2016 |title=Der Frankfurter Frieden von 1871 – Der erste Friedensschluss des jungen deutschen Kaiserreichs |trans-title=The Peace of Frankfurt in 1871 – The First Peace Agreement of the Young German Empire |url=https://www.bismarck-stiftung.de/2016/08/29/der-frankfurter-frieden-von-1871-der-erste-friedensschluss-des-jungen-deutschen-kaiserreichs/ |access-date=29 December 2024 |website=Otto-von-Bismarck Stiftung |language=de}}
• 8 July: The {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}} ('cultural struggle') against the Catholic Church began when the Catholic and Evangelical bureaus within the Prussian Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs were merged.{{Cite journal |last=Hatfield |first=Douglas W. |date=1981 |title=Kulturkampf: The Relationship of Church and State and the Failure of German Political Reform |url=http://www.jstor.com/stable/23916757 |journal=Journal of Church and State |volume=23 |issue=3 |page=467 |doi=10.1093/jcs/23.3.465 |jstor=23916757|url-access=subscription }}
• 10 December: In a continuation of the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}, the Reichstag passed the Pulpit Law. It made it illegal for a clergyman to make public statements which would "endanger the public peace".{{Sfn|Hatfield|1981|pp=467–468}}

• 11 March: The Prussian School Inspection Law replaced church oversight of the Prussian school system (both Catholic and Protestant schools) with state supervision (part of the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}).{{Sfn|Hatfield|1981|p=468}}
• 4 July: The Jesuit Law prohibited the activities of the Jesuit Order on German soil.{{Sfn|Hatfield|1981|p=469}}

• 15 October: The Panic of 1873 reached Germany with the collapse of the Quistorp Bank.{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Heinrich Quistorp (107. Q.) 1836–1902 |url=http://www.quistorp.de/Quistorpia/Heinrich107Quistorp.pdf |access-date=30 December 2024 |website=quistorp.de |page=239 |language=de}} It was followed by a wave of bankruptcies and an unprecedented fall in stock prices. It was not until 1880 that Germany began a slow return to growth.{{Cite book |last=Ullrich |first=Volker |title=Die nervöse Großmacht 1871–1918: Aufstieg und Untergang des deutschen Kaiserreichs |publisher=Fischer |year=2013 |edition=Kindle |location=Frankfurt am Main |pages=40, 44 |language=de |trans-title=The Nervous Great Power: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871–1918}}
• 11–14 May:{{Cite web |date=25 February 2019 |title=Maigesetze |trans-title=May Laws |url=https://www.pacelli-edition.de/schlagwort-pdf.html?idno=13061 |access-date=30 December 2024 |website=Pacelli Edition |language=de}} As part of the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}, the four Falk Laws (also known as the "May Laws") were passed by the Prussian parliament. They enacted state controls over religious training and ecclesiastical appointments.{{Cite web |date=25 February 2013 |title=Kulturkampf |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Kulturkampf. |access-date=30 December 2024 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}
• 22 October: The Three Emperors League ({{Lang|de|Dreikaiserbund}}) between the emperors of Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary was created. Through it Bismarck sought to isolate France diplomatically, specifically by preventing it from making an alliance with Russia.{{Cite web |last=Asmuss |first=Burkhard |date=8 June 2014 |title=Bismarcks Bündnissystem |trans-title=Bismarck's Alliance System |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/kaiserreich/aussenpolitik/bismarcks-buendnissystem |access-date=29 December 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}

• 1 January: The Constitution of the German Empire went into effect in the Reichsland Alsace–Lorraine, making its status similar to that of the Prussian provinces in their relation to the Kingdom of Prussia.{{Cite journal |last=Howard |first=Burt Estes |date=September 1906 |title=Alsace-Lorraine and Its Relation to the German Empire |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2140597 |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=448–449 |doi=10.2307/2140597 |jstor=2140597|url-access=subscription }}
• 10 January: The Empire held its second Reichstag election. The National Liberals again won the most seats (147 of 397), although the Catholic Centre Party with only 91 seats had a higher percentage of the total votes (28% vs. 27%).
• 9 March: In the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}, civil marriage became mandatory in Prussia.{{Cite journal |last1=Grigoriadis |first1=Ioannis N. |last2=Grigoriadis |first2=Theocharis N. |date=22 March 2018 |title=The political economy of Kulturkampf: evidence from imperial Prussia and republican Turkey |journal=Constitutional Political Economy |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=339–369 |doi=10.1007/s10602-018-9262-5 |hdl=11693/50461 |via=Springer Nature|hdl-access=free }}
• 13 July: An attempt to assassinate Chancellor Bismarck was made by a young Catholic who wanted to end the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}. The incident, which left Bismarck with a wound in the hand, stoked anti-Catholic sentiment.{{Cite journal |last=Ross |first=Ronald J. |date=October 1995 |title=The Kulturkampf and the Limitations of Power in Bismarck's Germany |journal=Journal of Ecclesiastical History |volume=46 |issue=4 |page=685 |doi=10.1017/S0022046900080489 |via=Cambridge University Press}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0827-500-002, Ferdinand Lassalle.jpg, founder of the first German workers' party]]

File:Bebel1863.jpg, a leading member of the German workers' movement]]

• 5 February: Pope Pius IX declared the Falk Laws of 1873 void.{{Cite web |last=Bunson |first=Matthew |date=2008 |title=German Catholics under the Iron Fist: Bismarck and the Kulturkampf |url=https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=8670 |access-date=2 January 2025 |website=Catholic Culture}}
• 6 February: Civil marriage was made mandatory in all of Germany, extending the law of 9 March 1874 which affected Prussia only.{{Cite web |last=Spahn |first=Martin |title=Kulturkampf. Political struggle for the rights and self-government of the Catholic Church in Germany |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/kulturkampf |access-date=2 January 2025 |website=Catholic Answers}}
• 8 April: The war-in-sight crisis, sparked by an editorial of that name in the Berlin newspaper Die Post, temporarily heightened tensions between Germany and France by bringing up the possibility of a German preventative war against France. Bismarck was thought to be behind the article.{{Cite book |last=Steinbach |first=Christoph |url=https://perspectivia.net/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/ploneimport_derivate_00011284/steinbach_diplomatie.pdf |title=Die französische Diplomatie und das Deutsche Reich 1873 bis 1881 |publisher=Röhrscheid |year=1976 |isbn=978-3-792-80379-0 |location=Bonn |pages=86 ff |language=de |trans-title=French Diplomacy and the German Empire 1873 to 1881}}
• 22 April: All state subsidies to Prussian Catholic dioceses and clergy were stopped (the so-called {{Lang|de|Brotkorbgesetz}} ('breadbasket law').{{Cite book |url=http://www.zeno.org/nid/20006372856 |title=Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon |publisher=Bibliographisches Institut |year=1905 |volume=3 |location=Leipzig |page=463 |language=de |trans-title=Meyers Great Conversation Dictionary}}
• 22–27 May: At the Gotha Congress, the General German Workers' Association (ADAV) founded by Ferdinand Lassalle combined with the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) founded by August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht to form the {{Ill|Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (1875)|lt=Socialist Workers' Party of Germany|de|Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands (1875)}} (SAP). In 1890 the SAP became the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).{{Cite web |title=Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, Gotha Program (May 1875) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1844 |access-date=3 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}
• 31 May: The {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}} continued with the closure of all monasteries in Prussia and the expulsion of members of religious orders from the state.{{Cite book |last=Spahn |first=Martin |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08703b.htm |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |year=1910 |volume=8 |location=New York |chapter=Kulturkampf}}

• 15 February: The {{Ill|Central Association of German Industrialists|de|Centralverband deutscher Industrieller}} was founded. In view of the ongoing repercussions of the Panic of 1873, it advocated the introduction of protective tariffs.{{Cite book |title=Deutsches Biographisches Jahrbuch |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |year=1925 |editor-last=Marcks |editor-first=Erich |volume=1 |location=Stuttgart |page=[https://archive.org/details/DeutschesBiographischesJahrbuchBd011914-16/page/n193 188] |language=de |trans-title=German Biographical Yearbook |editor-last2=Roethe |editor-first2=Gustav}}
• 30 March: The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) was banned in Prussia.{{Cite web |last=Sprenger |first=Christian |date=14 September 2014 |title=Die Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands (SAP) |trans-title=The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/kaiserreich/innenpolitik/sozialistische-arbeiterpartei-deutschlands-sap |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}
• 7 June: The German Conservative Party was founded. It represented primarily the wealthy landowning German nobility, including the Prussian Junker class.{{Cite book |last=Schmitz |first=Sven-Uwe |url={{Google books|ytB9NPrRjXgC|page=93|plainurl=yes}} |title=Konservatismus |publisher=VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften |year=2009 |location=Wiesbaden |page=93 |language=de}}{{Cite journal |last=Berdahl |first=Robert M. |date=March 1972 |title=Conservative Politics and Aristocratic Landholders in Bismarckian Germany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1878819 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=2–3 |doi=10.1086/240704 |jstor=1878819 |url-access=subscription }}

• 10 January: The third Reichstag election changed little in the party makeup in parliament. The National Liberals and Centre Party were again in first and second place.
• 15 June: In the Kissingen Dictation, Bismarck recorded his thoughts about possible "nightmare" anti-German coalitions among the great powers of Europe, with a particular focus on Russia.{{Cite book |last=Rosato |first=Sebastian |url=https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300253023.003.0004 |title=Intentions in Great Power Politics: Uncertainty and the Roots of Conflict |date=2021 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut |page=84|doi=10.12987/yale/9780300253023.003.0004 }}

File:Kaiser Wilhelm I. .JPG. The two assassination attempts against him spurred the passage of the Anti-Socialist Law of 1878.]]

• 11 May: The young workingman Max Hödel attempted to assassinate Kaiser Wilhelm I but failed to hit him.{{Cite web |last1=Osterroth |first1=Franz |last2=Schuster |first2=Dieter |date=March 2001 |title=Chronik der deutschen Sozialdemokratie – Band 1 |trans-title=Chronicle of German Social Democracy – Vol. 1 |url=https://library.fes.de/fulltext/bibliothek/00800/spd10003.htm#E235E340 |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Friedrich Ebert Stiftung |language=de}}
• 24 May: The first attempt to pass an anti-socialist law, introduced in reaction to the assassination attempt, failed in the Reichstag.
• 2 June: A second attack on the Kaiser left him wounded. Bismarck used the shooting to dissolve the Reichstag on 11 June in hopes of having a better chance to pass his anti-socialist law.
• 17 July: The Reichstag passed a worker protection law mandating factory inspections.{{Cite journal |last=Ayaß |first=Wolfgang |date=2002 |title=Bismarck und der Arbeiterschutz. Otto von Bismarcks Ablehnung des gesetzlichen Arbeiterschutzes – eine Analyse der Dimensionen und Hintergründe |trans-title=Bismarck and the Protection of Laborers. Otto von Bismarck's Rejection of the Legal Protection of Laborers – an Analysis of the Dimensions and Backgrounds |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20740808 |journal=Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte |language=de |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |volume=89 |issue=H4 |page=408 |jstor=20740808 }}
• 30 July: In the fourth Reichstag election, the National Liberals lost 30 seats but remained the strongest party. The Centre ran a close second.
• 21 October: The Anti-Socialist Law passed in the new Reichstag. It banned all social democratic associations, meetings and newspapers.{{Cite web |title=Anti-Socialist Law (October 21, 1878) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1843 |access-date=6 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}

• 4 July: Alsace–Lorraine went a step towards autonomy with a law effective 1 October that replaced the {{Lang|de|Oberpräsident}} with an appointed governor ({{Lang|de|Statthalter}}). Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel was the first governor.{{Cite book |last=Philippson |first=Coleman |url=https://ia601704.us.archive.org/21/items/alsacelorrainepa00philrich/alsacelorrainepa00philrich_bw.pdf |title=Alsace-Lorraine. Past, Present and Future |publisher=T. Fischer Unwin |year=1918 |location=London |page=159}}
• 1 October: The Reich Court ({{Lang|de|Reichsgericht}}) was established in Leipzig as the Empire's highest court of law.{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=The Federal Court of Justice |url=https://www.bundesgerichtshof.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/BGH/broschuere2020_NurTextEnglisch.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3 |website=The President of the Federal Court of Justice |page=17}}
• 7 October: Germany and Austria-Hungary formed the Dual Alliance. Each promised to offer the other military support if attacked by Russia.{{Cite web |title=Dual Alliance with Austria (October 7, 1879) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1856 |access-date=7 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}

• 14 July: The repeal of the law of 22 April 1875, which had stopped Prussian state subsidies to Catholic dioceses and clergy (the 'Breadbasket Law'), marked the beginning of the end of the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}.{{Cite web |date=14 July 2015 |title=Vor 135 Jahren: Das Ende des "Kulturkampfes" |trans-title=135 Years Ago: The End of the "Kulturkampf" |url=https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/hintergrund-aktuell/209483/vor-135-jahren-das-ende-des-kulturkampfes/ |access-date=7 January 2025 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb) |language=de}}

• 18 June: The emperors of Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary signed the treaty for the second Three Emperors League ({{Lang|de|Dreikaiserbund}}). It dealt with issues in the Balkan states and promised "friendly neutrality" in a war between any of the three and another great power.{{Cite web |date=11 June 2024 |title=Dreikaiserbund |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Dreikaiserbund |access-date=7 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}
• 27 October: In the Empire's fifth Reichstag election, the Catholic Centre Party became the largest party with 100 of the 397 seats, while the National Liberal Party was reduced to 45 seats.

• 20 May: The Kingdom of Italy joined the 1879 Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary to form the Triple Alliance. Each member promised the others its support in the event of an attack by another great power.{{cite book |url={{Google books|Q99JAgAAQBAJ|page=38|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century: A History and Guide with Texts |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-14125-3 |editor1-last=Grenville |editor1-first=John |location=Milton Park, UK |page=38 |access-date=7 January 2025 |editor2-last=Wasserstein |editor2-first=Bernard}}

• 15 June: The Reichstag approved a health insurance plan for workers. It made Germany the first country with a national social insurance system.{{Cite web |date=16 October 2024 |title=Geschichte der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung |trans-title=History of Statutory Health Insurance |url=https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/themen/krankenversicherung/grundprinzipien/geschichte |access-date=8 January 2025 |website=Bundesministerium für Gesundheit |language=de}}
• 11 July: The third Mitigation Law ({{Lang|de|Milderungsgesetz}}) repealed almost all of the anti-Catholic laws in Prussia.{{Cite book |last=Kissling |first=Johannes Baptist |url={{Google books|CUcVAAAAMAAJ|page=289|plainurl=yes}} |title=Geschichte des Kulturkampfes im Deutschen Reiche: Bd. Der Kampf gegen den passiven Widerstand. Die Friedensverhandlungen |publisher=Herdersche Verlagshandlung |year=1916 |location=Freiburg im Breisgau |pages=289 |language=sw |trans-title=History of the Cultural Struggle in the German Reich: Vol. The Fight Against Passive Resistance. The Peace Negotiations}}

File:Colonial Africa 1914 map.png

• 5 March: The German Progress Party and the Liberal Union merged to form the left-liberal German Free-minded Party.{{Cite journal |date=12 April 2019 |title=German Empire (Berlin). FO 64/1050: Lord Ampthill to Earl Granville, No 91, Berlin, 7 April 1884 |journal=Camden |series=Fifth Series |volume=56: British Envoys to the Kaiserreich, 1871–1897 |issue=2: 1884–1897 |pages=Reference 3 |doi=10.1017/S096011631800026X|doi-access=free }}
• 27 March: The treaty for the Three Emperors League of 1881 was extended for three years.{{Cite book |last=Afflerbach |first=Holger |title=Der Dreibund. Europäische Großmacht- und Allianzpolitik vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg |publisher=Böhlau Verlag |year=2002 |isbn=3-205-99399-3 |location=Vienna |page=141 |language=de |trans-title=The Triple Alliance. Great Power Politics and Alliance Policy in Europe before the First World War}}
• 24 April: German South West Africa became the first German colony when the land purchased by the merchant Adolf Lüderitz in 1883 was put under government protection.{{Cite web |date=24 April 2022 |title=Das geschah am 24. April: Südwestafrika wird erste deutsche Kolonie |trans-title=It Happened on 24 April: South West Africa Becomes the First German Colony |url=https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/mitteldeutschland/jahrestage/kalenderblatt-suedwestafrika-kolonie-nicole-grandprix-lidice-massaker-leipziger-buchmesse-100.html#sprung0 |access-date=8 January 2025 |website=MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) |language=de}}
• 27 June: The Reichstag passed a bill establishing accident insurance as part of Bismarck's social legislation.{{Cite web |last=Knoll-Jung |first=Sebastian |date=January 2024 |title=Geschichte der Selbstverwaltung in der Unfallversicherung (Teil I). Der Weg zum Unfallversicherungsgesetz |trans-title=History of Self-Administration in Accident Insurance (Part I). The Road to the Accident Insurance Act |url=https://forum.dguv.de/ausgabe/1-2024/artikel/geschichte-der-selbstverwaltung-in-der-unfallversicherung-teil-i |access-date=8 January 2025 |website=DGUV (Deutsche gesetzliche Unfallsversicherung) |language=de}}
• 5 July: Togo became a German colony when the explorer Gustav Nachtigall, at the request of German merchants, raised the German flag there. Cameroon followed in the same way on 14 July.{{Cite book |last=Gärtner |first=Karl |url={{Google books|WL8zAAAAIAAJ|page=7|plainurl=yes}} |title="Togo". Finanztechnische Studie über die Entwicklung des Schutzgebietes unter deutscher Verwaltung. |publisher=Raabe |year=1924 |location=Darmstadt |page=7 |language=de |trans-title="Togo". Financial Study on the Development of the Protectorate under German Administration.}}
• 28 October: In the sixth Reichstag election, the conservative parties backing Bismarck's policies won a majority of seats.

• 27 February: Carl Peters received a patent of patronage from Kaiser Wilhelm I to establish what became German East Africa.{{Cite web |title=Royal Patent of Patronage for Carl Peters's Society for German Colonization (February 27, 1885) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1869 |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}
• 26 March: Prussia ordered the deportation of Poles who did not have German citizenship. The measure resulted in about 30,000 expulsions.{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Staatliche Maßnahmen gegenüber der polnischen Minderheit und den Bevölkerungen in den überseeischen Gebieten des Deutschen Reichs 1871 bis 1918 |trans-title=State Measures Concerning the Polish Minority and the Populations in the Overseas Territories of the German Reich 1871–1918 |url=https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/594340/1e751eb9b02b5b4ba65a928ce997dbee/wd-1-040-18-pdf-data.pdf |access-date=9 January 2025 |website=Deutscher Bundestag |page=9 |language=de}}
• 17 May: Kaiser Wilhelm I granted a patent of patronage to the German New Guinea Company, leading to the creation of German New Guinea.{{Cite news |last=Ritter |first=Jürgen |date=16 April 2008 |title=Global Player der Kaiserzeit |trans-title=Global Player of the Imperial Era |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/deutsche-kolonialgeschichte-a-946771.html |access-date=9 January 2025 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de}}

• 26 April: The Reichstag established the Prussian Settlement Commission to promote German settlements in the Prussian provinces of West Prussia and Posen. The goal was to replace ethnic Poles with Germans.{{Cite web |title=Übersicht über die Ereignisse von 1763–1918 |trans-title=Overview of the Events of 1763–1918 |url=https://www.deutscheundpolen.de/ereignisse/index_jsp/epoche=1763-1918/start=80.html |access-date=10 January 2025 |website=Deutsche & Polen |language=de}}

File:Emperor Friedrich III (cropped)(2).png for just 99 days after the death of his father, Wilhelm I, in 1888]]

• 14 January: At Bismarck's request, Kaiser Wilhelm I dissolved the Reichstag after it rejected the government's bill for military spending covering a period of seven years.{{Cite web |last=von Bismarck |first=Otto |date=1919 |title=Vier Reden zur äußeren Politik: Nachbemerkungen |trans-title=Four Speeches on Foreign Policy: Postscript |url=https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/bismarck/reden/chap005.html |access-date=10 January 2025 |website=Project Gutenberg |language=de}}
• 21 February: In the seventh Reichstag election, the Bismarck-friendly "cartel parties" (National Liberals, German Conservatives and Free Conservatives) won an absolute majority.
• 11 March: The Reichstag passed the government's seven-year bill for military spending.{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Vor 135 Jahren: Reichstag verlängert Wahlperiode von drei auf fünf Jahre |trans-title=135 Years Ago: The Reichstag Extendss the Electoral Period from Three to Five Years |url=https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2023/kw06-kalenderblatt-legislaturperiode-541740 |access-date=10 January 2025 |website=Deutscher Bundestag |language=de}}
• 29 April: The second Prussian "Peace Law" ended the {{Lang|de|Kulturkampf}}.{{Cite web |title=Zweites preußisches Friedensgesetz vom 29. April 1887 |trans-title=Second Prussian Peace Law of 29 April 1887 |url=https://www.pacelli-edition.de/schlagwort-pdf.html?idno=1766 |access-date=10 January 2025 |website=Kritische OnlineEdition der Nuntiaturberichte Eugenio Pacellis (1917–1929) |language=de}}
• 18 June: Germany and Russia concluded the secret Reinsurance Treaty after the Three Emperors League collapsed. They agreed to reciprocal neutrality if either became involved in a war with a third great power.{{Cite web |date=11 June 2024 |title=Reinsurance Treaty |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Reinsurance-Treaty |access-date=10 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1993-098-12, Kaiser Wilhelm II..jpg in 1888, the year he became Kaiser]]

• 9 February: The conservative cartel parties that won a majority in the 21 February 1887 election pushed through a constitutional change that lengthened the legislative period of the Reichstag from three to five years.
• 9 March: Kaiser Wilhelm I died at the age of ninety. He was succeeded by his son Frederick III, who was seriously ill with throat cancer.{{Cite web |date=22 November 2024 |title=Frederick III |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-III-king-of-Prussia-and-emperor-of-Germany |access-date=11 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}
• 15 June: Frederick III died after 99 days as Kaiser. His 29-year-old son by Princess Royal Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, succeeded him as Kaiser Wilhelm II.{{Cite web |date=31 May 2024 |title=William II |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-II-emperor-of-Germany |access-date=11 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}

• 24 May: The Reichstag passed a disability and old-age pension bill. The pensions were to be granted at age 70 after 30 years of contributions.{{Cite news |date=24 May 2016 |title=Deutscher Reichstag beschließt Altersversicherung |trans-title=The German Reichstag Approves Old-Age Insurance |url=https://www.welt.de/geschichte/kalenderblatt/article155630806/Deutscher-Reichstag-beschliesst-Altersversicherung.html |access-date=11 January 2025 |work=Die Welt |language=de}}

• 25 January: Bismarck's attempt to extend the Anti-Socialist Laws indefinitely was defeated in the Reichstag.{{Cite book |last=Strazzeri |first=Victor |title=The Young Max Weber and German Social Democracy |publisher=Brill |year=2022 |isbn=978-9-004-52493-4 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |page=105}}
• 20 February: In the eighth Reichstag election, the Social Democrats won the largest share of votes (20%) but only 35 seats. The Centre Party with 19% of the votes won the most seats (107).
• 20 March: Kaiser Wilhelm II forced Otto von Bismarck to resign as chancellor of Germany.{{Cite web |title=Albrecht von Stosch to Count Alfred von Waldersee on Bismarck's Successor (January 30, 1890) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=695 |access-date=12 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}} He was succeeded by General Leo von Caprivi.{{Cite web |date=17 September 2024 |title=Bismarck's Successors |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/German-Empire/Bismarcks-successors |access-date=12 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}
• 27 March: In a conscious move away from Bismarck's foreign policy, the Caprivi government decided not to renew the Reinsurance Treaty with Russia.{{Cite web |title=Keine Verlängerung des Rückversicherungsvertrags 27.03.1890 |trans-title=No Extension of the Reinsurance Treaty 27 March 1890 |url=https://www.zeitklicks.de/zeitstrahl/1890/keine-verlaengerung-des-rueckversicherungsvertrags |access-date=11 January 2025 |website=Zeitklicks |language=de}}
• 18 November: The General Commission of German Trade Unions was formed in Berlin with Carl Legien at its head.{{Cite web |last=Schuster |first=Dieter |date=2000 |title=Chronologie der deutschen Gewerkschaftsbewegung von den Anfängen bis 1918 |trans-title=Chronology of the German Union Movement from its Beginnings to 1918 |url=https://library.fes.de/fulltext/bibliothek/tit00148/00148024.htm#E322E684 |access-date=12 January 2025 |website=Friedrich Ebert Stiftung |language=de}}

File:Graf Leopold von Caprivi cropped.jpg, German chancellor 20 March 1890 – 26 October 1894]]

• 9 April: What became the Pan-German League was re-founded. Its goals were to promote German colonialism and a policy of German power worldwide.{{Cite book |last=Wertheimer |first=Mildred Salz |url= |title=The Pan-German League, 1890–1914 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1924 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/pangermanleague10000wert/page/37 37]}}
• 1 June: The amended Industrial code came into effect. Its worker protections included a cap on working hours, a ban on Sunday work and on the employment of children under 13 years of age in factories.{{Cite web |title=Gesetz, betreffend Abänderung der Gewerbeordnung. Vom 1. Juni 1891 |trans-title=Law Amending the Industrial Code. From 1 June 1891 |url=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Gesetz,_betreffend_Ab%C3%A4nderung_der_Gewerbeordnung._Vom_1._Juni_1891 |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=Wikisource |language=de}}
• 14 October: The Social Democrats opened the party congress which developed the Erfurt Program. Even though it encouraged working through existing political institutions, it continued to call for a revolution in Germany.{{Cite web |title=Social Democracy 1891. The Erfurt Program |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/international/social-democracy/1891/erfurt-program.htm |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=Marxists Internet Archive}}

• 17 August: France and Russia agreed to the Franco-Russian Alliance. Each promised the other military support if it were attacked by a member of the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy).{{Cite book |last=Hammann |first=Otto |url=https://dn790000.ca.archive.org/0/items/deutscheweltpoli0000hamm/deutscheweltpoli0000hamm.pdf |title=Deutsche Weltpolitik 1890–1912 |publisher=Reimar Hobbing |year=1925 |location=Berlin |page=113 |language=de |trans-title=German Global Politics 1890–1912}}

• 18 February: The German Agrarian League was founded in Berlin to protest Chancellor Caprivi's low-tariff policy.{{Cite web |date=18 June 2023 |title=German Agrarian League |url=https://global.museum-digital.org/people/230076 |access-date=13 January 2025 |website=museum-digital}}
• 6 May: The Reichstag was dissolved after it rejected Chancellor Caprivi's military bill, which proposed an increase in the size of the army. The new Reichstag passed the bill on 13 July.{{Cite book |last=Lowell |first=A. Lawrence |url=https://ia904707.us.archive.org/31/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.276502/2015.276502.Governments-And_text.pdf |title=Governments and Parties in Continental Europe |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Company |year=1896 |volume=2 |location=London and Bombay |page=88}}
• 15 June: In the ninth Reichstag election, the Social Democratic Party was again the top vote-getter (23%) but won only 11% of the seats. The Centre Party, with 19% of the votes won the most seats (96, or 24%).

File:Die Gartenlaube (1894) b 773 (cropped).jpg, German chancellor 29 October 1894 – 17 October 1900]]

• 7 October: Two Reichstag parties merge to form the antisemitic German Social Reform Party.{{Cite web |last1=Leicht |first1=Johannes |last2=Scriba |first2=Arnulf |title=Deutschsoziale Reformpartei (DSRP) 1894–1900 |trans-title=German Social Reform Party (DSRP) 1894–1900 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/kaiserreich/innenpolitik/deutschsoziale-reformpartei-dsrp |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}
• 26 October: Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Chancellor Leo von Caprivi and three days later replaced him with Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst.{{Cite web |last=Schuster |first=Dieter |date=2000 |title=Chronologie der deutschen Gewerkschaftsbewegung von den Anfängen bis 1918 |trans-title=Chronology of the German Union Movement from its Beginnings to 1918 |url=https://library.fes.de/fulltext/bibliothek/tit00148/00148027.htm#E322E187 |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Friedrich Ebert Stiftung |language=de}}

• 3 January: In the Kruger telegram, Kaiser Wilhelm congratulated Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic for repelling the British Jameson Raid. It led to a deterioration in German-English relations.{{Cite book |title=The Kaiser's Memoirs. Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany, 1888–1918 English |publisher=Harper |year=1922 |location=New York, London |page=[https://archive.org/details/kaisersmemoirswi00will_0/page/83 83 footnote 1] |translator-last=Ybarra |translator-first=Thomas R.}}
• 1 July: The Reichstag adopted the Civil Code ({{Lang|de|Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch}}). It gave the German Empire a common civil code for the first time when it went into effect on 1 January 1900.{{Cite web |last=Wettig |first=Klaus |date=1 July 2021 |title=Vor 126 Jahren: Deutschland bekommt ein Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch |trans-title=126 Years Ago: Germany Receives a Civil Code |url=https://vorwaerts.de/geschichte/vor-126-jahren-deutschland-bekommt-ein-burgerliches-gesetzbuch |access-date=14 January 2025 |website=Vorwärts |language=de}}

• 6 March: China leased the Kiautschou Bay region to Germany for 99 years. The bay had been occupied by German cruisers in November 1897.{{Cite book |title="Musterkolonie Kiautschou": Die Expansion des Deutschen Reiches in China |publisher=Akademie Verlag |year=1997 |isbn=978-3-050-02984-9 |editor-last=Mühlhahn |editor-first=Klaus |location=Berlin |page=43 |language=de |trans-title="Model Colony of Kiaochow": The Expansion of the German Empire in China}}
• 28 March: The Anglo-German naval arms race began when the Reichstag approved the First Naval Act, which had been drawn up by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.{{Cite web |date=26 February 2010 |title=Deutschland wird Seemacht |trans-title=Germany Becomes a Naval Power |url=https://www.welt.de/iphone_app/historyapp/article6578215/Deutschland-wird-Seemacht.html |access-date=15 January 2025 |website=Die Welt |language=de}} A Second Naval Act was passed on 12 June 1900,{{Cite web |title=12. Juni 1898 Schlachtflottenbau für neue deutsche "Weltpolitik" |trans-title=Building a Battle Fleet for Germany's New "International Political Role" |url=https://www.preussenchronik.de/ereignis_jsp/key=chronologie_008570.html |access-date=15 January 2025 |website=Preussen. Chronik eines deutschen Staates |language=de}} with amendments in 1906, 1908 and 1912.{{Cite web |title=Die Novellierungen der Flottengesetze 1906, 1908 und 1912 |trans-title=The Amendments to the Fleet Acts 1906, 1908 and 1912 |url=https://www.kaiserlichemarine-wilhelmshaven.de/historischer-%C3%BCberblick/kaiserliche-marine-und-ihre-vorg%C3%A4nger-1848-1919/die-flottennovellen-1906-1908-und-1912/ |access-date=17 January 2025 |website=Kaiserliche Marine in Wilhelmshaven |language=de}}
• 16 June: In the tenth Reichstag election, the Social Democratic Party once again had the most votes of any party (27%) but fewer seats (56) than the second place Centre Party, which had 19% of the votes and 102 seats.

• 12 February: Spain sold the Caroline and Mariana Islands to Germany.{{Cite journal |last=Gregory |first=Charles Noble |date=July 1921 |title=The Mandate Over Yap |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2188003 |journal=The American Journal of International Law |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=419–427 |doi=10.2307/2188003 |jstor=2188003 |url-access=subscription }}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2004-0098, Bernhard Fürst von Bülow (cropped)(b).jpg, German chancellor 17 October 1900 – 14 July 1909]]

• 20 June: During the Boxer Rebellion, the German plenipotentiary in China, Klemens von Ketteler, was shot and killed. The event spurred foreign military intervention, including by Germany.{{Cite thesis |last=Lange |first=Sven |title=Revolt Against the West: A Comparison of the Boxer Rebellion of 1900–1901 and the Current War Against the West |date=June 2004 |access-date=15 January 2025 |degree=MA in National Security Affairs |publisher=Naval Postgraduate School |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA424935.pdf |page=45}}
• 27 July: In an address to troops heading out to fight the Boxer Rebellion, Kaiser Wilhelm's reference to 'Huns' caused consternation both in Germany and abroad.{{Cite web |title=Wilhelm II: "Hun Speech" (1900) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=755 |access-date=15 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}
• 17 October: Chancellor Chlodwig Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst resigned for age-related reasons and was replaced by Bernhard von Bülow.

• 11 June: The eleventh Reichstag election brought relatively little change to Germany's parliament. The Centre Party again had the most seats (100) with 20% of the votes; the Social Democrats with 32% of the votes won 81 seats.

• 12 January: An uprising of the Herero people in German South West Africa began the conflict that led to the Herero and Nama genocide, which lasted until 1907.{{Cite web |last=Erichsen |first=Casper |date=5 January 2025 |title=German-Herero conflict of 1904–07 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/German-Herero-conflict-of-1904-1907 |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}} A 1985 United Nations report states that German forces killed some 80 percent of all Herero.{{Cite web |title=UN Whitaker Report on Genocide, 1985, paragraphs 14 to 24 |url=http://www.preventgenocide.org/prevent/UNdocs/whitaker/section5.htm |access-date=16 January 2025 |website=preventgenocideinternational}}

• 31 March: The First Moroccan Crisis broke out when Kaiser Wilhelm visited Morocco in an attempt to limit France's growing influence there.{{Cite web |last=Bockemühl |first=Raschid |date=7 April 2006 |title=Verschleierte Sklaverei |trans-title=Disguised Slavery |url=https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/verschleierte-sklaverei-100.html |access-date=17 January 2025 |website=Deutschlandfunk |language=de}}
• 15 April: The Kaiser signed the "Act Increasing the Peacetime Strength of the German Army". By 1910 the total force was to be raised to just under 506,000.{{Cite web |title=Gesetz, betreffend die Friedenspräsenzstärke des deutschen Heeres. Vom 15. April 1905 |trans-title=Act Increasing the Peacetime Strength of the German Army of 15 April 1905 |url=https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Gesetz,_betreffend_die_Friedenspr%C3%A4senzst%C3%A4rke_des_deutschen_Heeres._Vom_15._April_1905 |access-date=17 January 2025 |website=Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt 1905 |language=de}}
• 24 July: Acting on his own, Kaiser Wilhelm signed the defensive Treaty of Björkö with Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. It was rejected by the cabinet in Berlin and never came into effect.{{Cite news |date=8 September 1959 |title=Geschichte Unter Vier Augen |trans-title=History in Private |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/geschichte-unter-vier-augen-a-ca87fa7c-0002-0001-0000-000042622550 |access-date=17 January 2025 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de}}

File:Generalleutnant von Moltke, der neue Chef des Generalstabs, 1906 (cropped).jpg, Chief of the German General Staff as of 1906]]

• 1 January: General Helmuth von Moltke replaced Alfred von Schlieffen as Chief of the German General Staff.{{Cite book |last=Rothenberg |first=Gunther E. |url={{Google books|F0N59g93EBYC|page=311|plainurl=yes}} |title=Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1986 |editor-last=Paret |editor-first=Peter |location=Princeton, New Jersey |page=311 |chapter=Moltke, Schlieffen, and the Doctrine of Strategic Envelopment |doi=10.1515/9781400835461-013 |isbn=978-1-4008-3546-1 |editor-last2=Craig |editor-first2=Gordon A. |editor-last3=Gilbert |editor-first3=Felix}}
• 16 October: Shoemaker Wilhelm Voigt (the "Captain of Köpenick"), simply by donning a captain's uniform, was able to arrest the mayor of Köpenick and abscond with the town's funds. The incident was highly publicized and made into a play by Carl Zuckmayer.{{Cite web |title=Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt |url=https://www.vdl.lu/en/friedrich-wilhelm-voigt |access-date=17 January 2025 |website=Ville de Luxembourg}}
• 13 December: Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow dissolved the Reichstag after it failed to approve additional funds for the Herero War in German South West Africa (see also 12 January 1904).{{Cite web |date=13 December 2022 |title=1906: Auflösung des Reichstags |trans-title=1906: Dissolution of the Reichstag |url=https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/mitteldeutschland/jahrestage/kalenderblatt-reichstag-drogen-bundetagspraesidentin-renger-dachauer-prozess-schmidt-guestrow100.html#sprung0 |access-date=17 January 2025 |website=MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) |language=de}}

• 25 January: In what came to be known as the "Hottentot election" because of the importance to the campaign of the Herero War in German South West Africa,{{Cite thesis |last=Illert |first=Otis |title=Settler and Administration Antagonism in Colonial German East Africa, 1885–1925 |date=July 2022 |access-date=18 January 2025 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Cambridge |url=https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/7367e0e1-bd18-46a8-a5e1-dfba3c666902/content |pages=83–84}} the twelfth Reichstag election of the Empire resulted in the Centre Party again having the most seats (101) with 19% of the votes and the Social Democrats having the most votes (29%) but only 43 seats (fourth place).
• 17 May: With the Reichstag's approval, the Imperial Colonial Office was founded.
• 12 October: Karl Liebknecht was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his essay "Militarism and Antimilitarism".{{Cite web |date=13 August 2021 |title=Karl Liebknecht: Arbeiterikone und Staatsfeind Nr. 1 |trans-title=Karl Liebknecht: Workers' Icon and State Enemy Number 1 |url=https://www.mdr.de/geschichte/weitere-epochen/erster-weltkrieg/karl-liebknecht-104.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |website=MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) |language=de}}

• 15 May: The Associations Act ({{Lang|de|Vereinsgesetz}}) allowed women to be members of political parties and associations.{{Cite web |last=Kurzer |first=Ulrich |date=15 May 2008 |title=Ein Schritt zur Gleichberechtigung |trans-title=A Step Towards Equal RIghts |url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/ein-schritt-zur-gleichberechtigung-102.html |access-date=18 January 2025 |website=Deutschlandfunk Kultur |language=de}}
• 7 October: Prussia opened its universities to women. It was the last German state to do so.{{Cite web |date=2 October 2008 |title=Frauenstudium in Preußen zugelassen |trans-title=Women Admitted to University Study in Prussia |url=https://www.wissenschaft.de/zeitpunkte/frauenstudium-in-preussen-zugelassen/ |access-date=18 January 2025 |website=Bild der Wissenschaft |language=de}}
• 28 October: In the Daily Telegraph Affair, the London newspaper published impolitic statements made by Kaiser Wilhelm which badly damaged his reputation in Germany.{{Cite web |title=The Daily Telegraph Affair (October 28, 1908) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=757 |access-date=18 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}

File:Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg 1913.jpg, German chancellor 4 July 1909 – 13 July 1917]]

• 14 July: Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg became chancellor of Germany following the resignation of Bernhard von Bülow.{{Cite book |last=Röhl |first=John C. G. |author-link=John C. G. Röhl |title=Wilhelm II. Into the Abyss of War and Exile, 1900–1941 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-139-04627-5 |location=Cambridge, UK |page=748 |translator-last=de Bellaigue |translator-first=Sheila |translator-last2=Bridge |translator-first2=Roy}}

• 31 May: The constitution for Alsace–Lorraine came into effect. It gave the {{Lang|de|Reichsland}} nearly the same status as the states of the Empire.{{Cite web |title=Landesverfassung für das "Reichsland Elsass-Lothringen" vom 26. Mai 1911, in: 'Kritische Online-Edition der Nuntiaturberichte Eugenio Pacellis (1917–1929)' Schlagwort Nr. 7015 |trans-title=State Constitution for the "Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine" of 26 May 1911, in: 'Critical Online Edition of the Reports of Nuncius Eugenio Pacelli (1917–1929)' Keyword No. 7015 |url=https://www.pacelli-edition.de/schlagwort-pdf.html?idno=7015 |access-date=18 January 2025 |website=Pacelli edition |language=de}}

• 12 January: In the thirteenth and last Reichstag election of the German Empire, the Social Democratic Party for the first time won the most mandates. With 110 seats and 35% of the votes, it polled well ahead of the second place Centre Party, which garnered 90 seats with just 16% of the vote.
• 14 June: The 1912 amendment to the Naval Act (see 28 March 1898) passed the Reichstag.{{Cite web |date=20 June 1912 |title=Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt 1912 036 392 |trans-title=Reich Law Gazette 1912 036 392 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deutsches_Reichsgesetzblatt_1912_036_392.jpeg |access-date=19 January 2025 |website=Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt 1912 |language=de}} Seventy-five percent of the imperial budget was dedicated to armaments.{{Cite web |last=Stotz |first=Peter |date=2 August 2018 |title=Jubiläumssserie: Errungenschaften auf der Schiene 1912 |trans-title=Anniversary series: Achievements on the railways in 1912 |url=https://www.esslinger-zeitung.de/inhalt.untergang-der-titanic-strassenbahn-nach-oberesslingen-ez-jubilaeumssserie-errungenschaften-auf-der-schiene-1912.2f8b5dc0-0d0e-4a8d-88fd-1bd56dcaa7d0.html |website=.Esslinger Zeitung |language=de}}

• 14 September: Following the death of the Social Democratic Party's chairman August Bebel, Hugo Haase and Friedrich Ebert were elected to replace him.{{Cite book |url={{Google books|vCdDBLeHjdoC|page=95|plainurl=yes}} |title=Die Chronik. Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts bis heute |publisher=Chronik Verlag |year=2006 |editor-last=Becker |editor-first=Ute |location=Gütersloh / Munich |page=95 |language=de |trans-title=The Chronicle. History of the 20th Century Until Today}} Both men were to play major roles in the Weimar Republic.
• 6 November: In Alsace–Lorraine, derogatory remarks about the locals by a young Prussian officer led to arrests and clashes between civilians and the German military. In what came to be known as the Zabern Affair, there was strong public outcry against the military's actions and a vote of censure in the Reichstag against Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg.{{Cite book |last=Winkler |first=Heinrich August |author-link=Heinrich August Winkler |title=Germany: The Long Road West. Volume 1: 1789–1933 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-19-926597-8 |location=Oxford, UK |pages=568–569 |translator-last=Sager |translator-first=Alexander J.}}

{{See also|Timeline of World War I}}

File:Septemberprogramm possible outcome in Europe.png been put into effect. The colored areas outside the dark blue of Germany would have been puppet states.]]

• 20 February: Rosa Luxemburg was sentenced to a year in prison for anti-war statements she had made in September 1913.{{Cite book |last=Sachar |first=Howard M. |url={{Google books|8vKPBQAAQBAJ|page=7|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Assassination of Europe, 1918–1942. A Political History |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-442-60921-1 |location=Toronto |pages=7–8 |doi=10.3138/9781442609204}}
• 5 July: Early in the July Crisis that led up to the outbreak of the First World War, Germany promised its full support to Austria-Hungary in its response against Serbia in the wake of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June.{{Cite web |last=Mulligan |first=William |date=1 July 2015 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Germany's Blank Cheque to Austria-Hungary |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/????? |access-date=20 January 2025 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}
• 1 August: Germany declared war against Russia and in the following days against France and England. Many Germans, especially in the educated classes, greeted the outbreak of war enthusiastically in the "Spirit of 1914".{{Cite journal |last=Ringmar |first=Erik |date=January 2018 |title=The spirit of 1914 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26393406 |journal=War in History |publisher=Sage Publications, Inc. |volume=25 |issue=1 |page=30 |jstor=26393406 }}
• 4 August: In a display of its wartime political truce, the Reichstag, including all members of the Social Democratic Party, voted unanimously in favor of the government's request for 5 billion marks in war funding.{{Cite web |date=2014 |title=Vor 100 Jahren: Reichstag billigt Kriegskredite |trans-title=100 years ago: Reichstag approves war credits |url=https://www.bundestag.de/webarchiv/textarchiv/2014/kw31_reichstagsprotokolle-284830 |access-date=20 January 2025 |website=Deutscher Bundestag |language=de}}
• 9 September; In the September Program, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg laid out Germany's war goals. They included the creation of a Mitteleuropa under German domination.{{Cite web |last=Sondhaus |first=Lawrence |date=25 August 2015 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Civilian and Military Power |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/civilian-and-military-power/ |access-date=21 January 2025 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}
• 4 October: Ninety-three German intellectuals published a manifesto in which they denied that Germany had committed war crimes in Belgium and defended Germany as a nation of culture.{{Cite web |last=von Ungern-Sternberg |first=Jürgen |date=8 October 2015 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Making Sense of the War (Germany) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/making-sense-of-the-war-germany/ |access-date=21 January 2025 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}

• 1 February: As retaliation against Great Britain for its naval blockade of Germany, Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg approved the use of submarines against merchant shipping.{{Cite book |last1=Macgregor |first1=Jim |title=Prolonging the Agony |last2=Docherty |first2=Gerry |publisher=Trine Day |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-634-24157-1 |location=Walterville, Oregon |page=CXVII |language= |trans-title=}}
• 20 March: Karl Liebknecht and Otto Rühle voted against the budget bill containing additional war funding. Thirty other Social Democrats walked out before the vote.{{Cite web |last=Schuster |first=Dieter |date=1999 |title=Chronologie der deutschen Gewerkschaftsbewegung von den Anfängen bis 1918 |trans-title=Chronology of the German Union Movement from its Beginnings to 1918 |url=https://library.fes.de/fulltext/bibliothek/00148/00002314.html |access-date=21 January 2025 |website=Friedrich Ebert Stiftung |language=de}}
• 12 May: A memorandum from German heavy industry pushed for annexations in Eastern Europe in order to "obtain the necessary military strength and ensure the food supply for our population in new wars".{{Cite news |last=Augstein |first=Rudolf |date=10 March 1964 |title=Lieber Spiegel-Leser! |trans-title=Dear Spiegel Readers! |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/lieber-spiegel-leser-a-1c9f3932-0002-0001-0000-000046163408 |access-date=21 January 2025 |work=Der Spiegel |language=de}}

File:1920 poster 12000 Jewish soldiers KIA for the fatherland.jpg.{{Efn|1=The text reads:

To German mothers! 12,000 Jewish soldiers fell for the Fatherland on the field of honor. Christian and Jewish heroes fought together and rest together in foreign soil. 12,000 Jews fell in battle! Mindless party hatred does not stop at the graves of the dead. German women, do not tolerate the mocking of Jewish mothers in their pain. – League of Jewish Front-Line Fighters E.V. [=Registered Association]}}]]

• 24 March: Hugo Haase and other anti-war Social Democratic Reichstag members were expelled from the party. They formed the Social Democratic Working Group ({{Lang|de|Sozialdemokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft}}, SAG), a forerunner of the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD).{{Cite web |last=Kalmbach |first=Karena |date=6 September 2014 |title=Die Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (USPD) |trans-title=The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/uspd |access-date=22 January 2025 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}
• 1 May: Karl Liebknecht was arrested at an anti-war demonstration in Berlin. On 28 June he was sentenced to four years in prison.{{Cite book |last=Knight-Patterson |first=W. M. |title=Germany From Defeat To Conquest |publisher=George Allen and Unwin |year=1945 |location=Crow's Nest, NSW |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.186542/page/n78 80]}}
• 22 May: In a sign of Germany's worsening living standards, the War Office for Food was established.{{Cite web |title=Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt 1916 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deutsches_Reichsgesetzblatt_1916_102_0402.png |access-date=22 January 2025 |website=wikisource}}
• 11 October: Under pressure from antisemitic groups who believed that Jews were shirking front-line combat duties, the Prussian Ministry of War ordered a census of Jews.{{Cite web |last=Geheran |first=Michael |date=9 July 2015 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Judenzählung (Jewish Census) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/judenzahlung-jewish-census/ |access-date=22 January 2025 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}
• 2 December: The Reichstag passed the Auxiliary Services Act, a major component of the Hindenburg Program, the goal of which was to rapidly increase the output of munitions and weapons. Every able-bodied German male could be called to mandatory service in a war-related field.{{Cite web |title=Auxiliary Service Law (December 1916) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=953 |access-date=22 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}

File:Reichskanzler Dr. Georg Michaelis, 1917.jpg, German chancellor 14 July 1917 – 1 November 1917]]

File:Georg von Hertling (cropped).jpeg, German chancellor 1 November 1917 – 30 September 1918]]

• 24 February: All schools in Berlin were closed due to a lack of coal to heat the buildings.{{Cite web |date=22 February 2017 |title=20.–26. Februar: Der Krieg vertieft die Krise des zaristischen Regimes |trans-title=20–26 February: The War Deepens the Crisis in the Tsarist Regime |url=https://www.wsws.org/de/articles/2017/02/22/twrr-f22.html |access-date=23 January 2025 |website=World Socialist Web Site |language=de}}
• 6 April: The split within the Social Democrats (SPD) became formal when its anti-war left wing, including members of the Spartacus League, formed the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD).{{Cite book |last=Mulholland |first=Marc |url={{Google books|UIw4ESIyyVQC|page=156|plainurl=yes}} |title=Bourgeois Liberty and the Politics of Fear. From Absolutism to Neo-Conservatism |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-199-65357-7 |location=Oxford, UK |page=156}}
• 7 April: As a result of growing political unrest in Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm in his "Easter Message" promised constitutional reforms at the end of the war.{{Cite web |title=Wilhelm II's "Easter Message" (April 7, 1917) |url=https://ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=978&language=english |access-date=23 January 2025 |website=GHDI (German History in Documents and Images)}}
• 9 April: Vladimir Lenin, with the cooperation of the German government, crossed Germany by train on his way from exile in Switzerland to Saint Petersburg in Russia.{{Cite web |last1=Fahy |first1=Jo |last2=Unterfinger |first2=Ester |date=16 December 2017 |title=A revolutionary train journey across wartime Europe |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-politics/reliving-lenin-s-journey_a-revolutionary-train-ride-across-wartime-europe/43740628 |access-date=23 January 2025 |website=SWI swissinfo.ch}}
• 13 July: Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg submitted his resignation to Kaiser Wilhelm after Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff threatened to resign if he did not go. Wilhelm chose Georg Michaelis as the next chancellor.{{Sfn|Winkler|2006|pp=603–604}}
• 19 July: The Reichstag Peace Resolution, which urged a negotiated peace without annexations, passed by a vote of 212 to 126.{{Sfn|Winkler|2006|p=606}}
• 2 September: In response to the Reichstag Peace Resolution, the German Fatherland Party was founded under the leadership of Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz and Wolfgang Kapp (who gave his name to the 1920 Kapp Putsch).{{Cite web |last=Hagenlücke |first=Heinz |title=German Fatherland Party (Deutsche Vaterlandspartei – DVLP) |url=https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/db/lwso |access-date=23 January 2025 |website=Brill's Digital Library of World War I}}
• 31 October: General Ludendorff forced Georg Michaelis to resign as chancellor. Kaiser Wilhelm chose Georg von Hertling to replace him.{{Cite web |last=Ray |first=Michael |date=23 March 2018 |title=The outbreak of World War I: The political crisis of 1916–17 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/German-Empire/The-outbreak-of-World-War-I |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}

{{See also|Timeline of the Weimar Republic}}

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R04103, Prinz Max von Baden.jpg, the last chancellor of the German Empire 3 October 1918 – 9 November 1918]]

• 28 January: The anti-war January strike began in Berlin. Over a million workers took part before the government violently suppressed the action.{{cite book |last=Patmore |first=Greg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4nADAAAQBAJ&pg=PA76 |title=Worker Voice: Employee Representation in the Workplace in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US 1914–1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-78138-268-4 |location=Oxford, UK |page=76 |access-date=24 January 2025}}
• 3 March: Germany and Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending the war between the two nations.{{Cite web |date=25 February 2024 |title=Treaties of Brest-Litovsk |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/treaties-of-Brest-Litovsk |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}
• 29 September: At the Spa Conference, Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff told Kaiser Wilhelm that the civilian government should ask for an armistice based on Wilson's 14 Points and that the Reichstag's main political parties should be brought into the government.{{Cite web |last=Oppelland |first=Torsten |date=2 June 2016 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Germany) |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/governments-parliaments-and-parties-germany/ |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}
• 30 September: As a result of the demands for a democratized government, Chancellor Georg von Hertling resigned.
• 3 October: Prince Max von Baden was named chancellor. He brought members of the Social Democratic Party and Centre Party into his cabinet.
• 23 October: In U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's third note to the German authorities, he wrote that peace negotiations required a more democratic government and that he could accept only surrender if the negotiations were with "the military masters and monarchical autocrats of Germany".{{Cite book |last=Baumont |first=Maurice |url=https://ia803200.us.archive.org/22/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.503374/2015.503374.fall-of.pdf |title=The Fall of the Kaiser |publisher=George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. |year=1931 |location=London |pages=8–9}}
• 23 October: Karl Liebknecht was released under a general amnesty of political prisoners.{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Mark |date=11 November 2016 |editor-last=Daniel |editor-first=Ute |editor2-last=Gatrell |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Janz |editor3-first=Oliver |editor4-last=Jones |editor4-first=Heather |editor5-last=Keene |editor5-first=Jennifer |editor6-last=Kramer |editor6-first=Alan |editor7-last=Nasson |editor7-first=Bill |title=Karl Paul August Friedrich |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/liebknecht-karl-paul-august-friedrich/ |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=1914–1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War |publisher=Freie Universität Berlin}}
• 28 October: An amendment to the imperial constitution changed the Empire to a parliamentary monarchy, with the chancellor dependent on the will of the Reichstag rather than the emperor.{{Sfn|Winkler|2006|p=630}}
• 29 October: German sailors in Wilhelmshaven refused orders to sail out for a last battle with the British Navy. The ensuing Kiel Mutiny on 3 November marked the beginning of the German revolution of 1918–1919 which overthrew the German Empire.{{Sfn|Winkler|2006|pp=632–633}}
• 9 November: Chancellor Max von Baden prematurely announced the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and handed his own office to Friedrich Ebert of the SPD.{{Cite web |date=2 November 2023 |title=Maximilian, prince of Baden |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maximilian-Prince-of-Baden |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}} A few hours later and without authorization, Philipp Scheidemann (SPD) proclaimed the "German Republic" from a window of the Reichstag building.{{Cite web |last=von Hellfeld |first=Matthias |date=16 November 2009 |title=Long live the republic – November 9, 1918 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/long-live-the-republic-november-9-1918/a-4746952 |access-date=24 January 2025 |website=Deutsche Welle}}

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