1866 in Germany

Incumbents

• King of Bavaria – Ludwig II of Bavaria
• King of Prussia – William I
• King of Saxony – John

Events

• Alfred Nobel – invents dynamite in Germany.

Births

January–March

• 10 January – Ludwig Aschoff, German physician and pathologist
• 28 January – Georg Friederici
• February – Karl Albert Buehr, painter
• 6 March – Hans Christiansen, artist
• 7 March – Hans Fruhstorfer, German lepidopterist
• 13 March – Friedrich Boedicker, Vizeadmiral
• 15 March – Matthew Charlton, Australian politician

April–June

• 11 April – Karl Bürger, German classical scholar
• 22 April – Hans von Seeckt, German general
• 23 May– Gustav Aschaffenburg, German psychiatrist
• 8 June – Hermann Fenner-Behmer
• 26 June – Josef Swickard, German actor

July–September

• 8 July – Benedict Friedlaender
• 5 August – Carl Harries, German chemist
• 16 September – Joe Vila, American sportswriter
• 24 September –Max Bernhauer, German entomologist

October–December

• 27 October – Elsa Bernstein, Austrian-German writer and dramatist of Jewish descent.
• 3 November – Paul Lincke, German composer
• 20 November– Friedrich von Berg, German politician and chairman of the Secret Civil Cabinet of Kaiser Wilhelm II
• 21 November – Hermann Boettcher, actor
• 24 November – Rudolf Biebrach, German actor and film director
• 12 December – Alfred Werner, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths

January–June

• 31 January – Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator and professor of Oriental languages
• 6 March – Theodor Brüggemann, Prussian government official and politician

July–December

• 20 July – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician
• 30 August or 10 September – Hermann Goldschmidt, German-French astronomer and painter