1861 in Germany

• King of Bavaria – Ludwig II • King of Hanover – George V • King of Prussia – Frederick William IV (until 2 Jan) William I (since 2 Jan) • King of Saxony – John • King of Württemberg – William I of Württemberg • Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I ==Events==

• 2 January – Frederick William IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by Wilhelm I. • 15 April – Watchmaker Junghans is founded. • 6 June – German Progress Party (Deutsche Fortschrittspartei) is founded as Germany's first modern political party by liberal members of the Prussian House of Representatives in opposition to Bismarck. • 1 July- Wallraf–Richartz Museum opened in Cologne • 11 July – German Shooting and Archery Federation is founded in Gotha. • 14 July – Osckar Becker attempts assassination of William I of Prussia in Baden-Baden. • 7 August – Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein founded by Franz Liszt and Franz Brendel. • 15 August – First description of Archaeopteryx, based on a feather found in Bavaria; in September the first complete identified skeleton is found near Langenaltheim. • 1 October – Newspaper Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung begins daily publication as Nord-deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. • Date unknown – Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg is founded. ==Births==

• 2 January – Wilhelm Bölsche, writer (died 1939) • 30 January – Charles Martin Loeffler, violist (died 1937 in the United States) • 4 February – Franz Winter, archaeologist (died 1930) • 17 February – Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Duchess of Albany, marries into the British royal family (died 1922 in Austria) • 6 March – Friedrich Eckenfelder, painter (died 1938) • 21 March – Charles Swickard, silent film director (died 1929 in the United States) • 14 May – Harro Magnussen, sculptor (died 1908) • 28 May – Siegfried Czapski, physicist and optician (died 1907) • 19 June – Ludwig Traube, palaeographer (died 1907) • 22 June – Maximilian von Spee, admiral (died 1914) • 16 July – Franz von Blon, composer (died 1945) • 11 September – Erich von Falkenhayn, general (died 1922) • 18 September – Walter Schott, sculptor (died 1938) • 23 September – Robert Bosch, industrialist, engineer and inventor (died 1942) • 24 September – Walter Simons, lawyer and politician (died 1937) • 28 September – Wilhelm Diegelmann, actor (died 1934) • 29 September – Carl Duisberg, chemist and industrialist (died 1935) • 15 October – Eduard Schmid, politician (died 1933) • 20 October – Maximilian Harden, journalist (died 1927) • 10 December • Karl Groos, philosopher (died 1946) • Elisabeth von Heyking, novelist and travel diarist (died 1925) • 26 December • Friedrich Engel, mathematician (died 1941) • Ludolf von Krehl, internist (died 1937) • 29 December – Kurt Hensel, mathematician (died 1941) ==Deaths==

• 2 January – Frederick William IV of Prussia, King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861 (born 1795) • 21 January – Ernst Friedrich August Rietschel, sculptor (born 1804) • 19 January – Albert Niemann, chemist (born 1834) • 9 February – Karl Otto Ludwig von Arnim, travel writer and playwright (born 1779) • 18 February – Theodor Mügge, writer (born 1802) • 25 October – Friedrich Carl von Savigny, academic lawyer and historian (born 1779) • 26 November – Wilhelm Hensel, painter (born 1794) • 1 December – Heinrich August Hahn, theologian (born 1821) • 18 December – Ernst Anschütz, teacher, organist, poet and composer (born 1780) == References ==