1881 in Germany

National level • Emperor – William I • Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck State level Kingdoms • King of Bavaria – Ludwig II • King of Prussia – William I • 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 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 – Charles Gonthier, 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 – William, Duke of Brunswick • 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 ==Events==

• 31 March – last Anti-Socialist Law is passed by the German Reichstag. • 16 May – Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, world's first electric tramway, starts in Berlin. • 25 September – in Meckesheim physician Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer performs the first modern Caesarean section, the transverse incision technique to minimise bleeding. • 27 October – German federal election, 1881 ==Births==

• 1 January – Hermann Schmitz, German industrialist (died 1960) • 4 January – Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (died 1919) • 17 January – Karl Scharnagl, German politician (died 1963) • 16 February – Hans Vogel, German politician (died 1945) • 16 February – Hans Meiser, German Protestant theologian, pastor and first 'Landesbischof' of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (died 1956) • 23 March – Hermann Staudinger, German chemist (died 1965) • 1 April – Wilhelm Sollmann, German journalist and politician (died 1951) • 3 April – Hans Kniep, German botanist (died 1930) • 19 April – Ernst Schneppenhorst, German politician (died 1945) • 2 May – Ernst Legal, German actor (died 1955) • 18 May – Erwin Madelung, German mathematician (died 1972) • 30 May – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (died 1968) • 31 May – Heinrich Burger, German figure skater (died 1942) • 9 June – Felix von Luckner, German author, sailor and nobleman (died 1966) • 24 June – Heinz Tietjen, German conductor (died 1967) • 24 June – Martin Salomonski, German rabbi (killed 1944) • 29 June – Gottlob Walz, German diver (died 1943) • 27 July – Hans Fischer, German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1945) • 28 July – Günther Quandt, German industrialist (died 1954) • 8 August – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (died 1954) • 26 August – Franz Gürtner, German jurist and politician (died 1941) • 4 October – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (died 1948) • 9 October – Friedrich Syrup, German politician (died 1945) • 12 November – Ulrich von Hassell, German diplomat (died 1944) • 12 November – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (died 1954) • 2 December – Heinrich Barkhausen, German physicist (died 1956) • 4 December – Erwin von Witzleben, German officer (died 1944) • 15 December – Eugen Bolz, German politician (died 1945) • 25 December – Christian Hülsmeyer, German inventor, physicist and entrepreneur (died 1957) • 31 December – Max Pechstein, German painter (died 1955) ==Deaths==

• 7 April – Johann Hinrich Wichern, German religious leader (born 1808) • 15 May – Franz von Dingelstedt, German poet and dramatist (born 1814) • 2 June – Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg, German diplomat (born 1815) • 23 June – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist (born 1804) • 10 July – Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect (born 1812) • 11 October – Friedrich Hitzig, German architect (born 1811) ==References==