1905 in Germany
Events in the year 1905 in Germany.
Incumbents
National level
State level
Kingdoms
- King of Bavaria – Otto
- King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
- King of Saxony – Frederick Augustus III
- King of Württemberg – William II
Grand Duchies
- Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
- Grand Duke of Hesse – Ernest Louis
- Grand Duke of Mecklenburg–Schwerin – Frederick Francis IV
- Grand Duke of Mecklenburg–Strelitz – Adolphus Frederick V
- Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Frederick Augustus II
- Grand Duke of Saxe–Weimar–Eisenach – William Ernest
Principalities
- Schaumburg–Lippe – George, Prince of Schaumburg–Lippe
- Schwarzburg–Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg–Rudolstadt
- Schwarzburg–Sondershausen – Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg–Sondershausen
- Principality of Lippe – Alexander, Prince of Lippe with Leopold, Count of Lippe–Biesterfeld as regent, to 25 October, then Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe
- Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz
- Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Line
- Waldeck and Pyrmont – Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Duchies
- Duke of Anhalt – Frederick II, Duke of Anhalt
- Duke of Brunswick – Prince [Albert of Prussia (1837–1906)|Prince Albert of Prussia]
- Duke of Saxe–Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe–Altenburg
- Duke of Saxe–Coburg and Gotha – Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe–Coburg and Gotha
- Duke of Saxe–Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe–Meiningen
Colonial Governors
- Cameroon – Otto Gleim ' ' to 31 January, then Jesko von Puttkamer '
- Kiaochow – Oskar von Truppel
- German East Africa – Gustav Adolf von Götzen
- German New Guinea – Albert Hahl '
- German Samoa – Wilhelm Solf
- German South–West Africa – Theodor Leutwein to 19 August, then Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha to November, then Friedrich von Lindequist
- Togoland – Waldemar Horn to 27 July, then Johann Nepomuk Graf Zech auf Neuhofen
Events
- 31 March – during the First Moroccan Crisis, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany met with representatives of Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco in Tangier
- 6 June – In Germany's last royal wedding, Crown Prince Wilhelm, son of Kaiser Wilhelm II and heir to the throne, marries Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Berlin.
Date unknown
- Germany insists on an international conference on the Moroccan question.
- German company Knorr-Bremse is founded.
- Albert Einstein publishes his four Annus Mirabilis papers. In particular, he formulates the theory of special relativity and states the law of mass–energy conservation: E = mc². He also explains the photoelectric effect by quantization and mathematically analyzes Brownian motion. Because of this, 1905 is said to be the miraculous year for physics, and its 100th anniversary was declared the World Year of Physics.
- Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann discovers the bacterium that is responsible for syphilis—a spiral-shaped spirochete called Treponema pallidum.
- The German Equestrian Federation is founded.
Births
- 20 January – Kurt Waitzmann, German actor
- 3 February – Hermann Henselmann, German architect
- 14 February — Margot Sauerbruch, surgeon, married to Ferdinand Sauerbruch
- 16 February – Karl Frankenstein, German–born Israeli professor
- 15 March – Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, aristocrat, lawyer and member of July 20 plot
- 15 March — Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, aristocrat and historian
- 15 March – Nikolaus von Halem, German lawyer and businessman
- 16 March – Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress
- 19 March — Albert Speer, German architect, member of the NSDAP and war-criminal
- 23 March – Lale Andersen, German singer
- 24 March – Karl John, German actor
- 25 March – Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, German Army colonel and a resistance fighter
- 27 March – Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, officer in the German Army. He attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler by suicide bombing on 21 March 1943;
- 8 April – Arnulf Klett, German lawyer and politician
- 3 May – Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria, German nobleman
- 6 May – Kurt Schumacher, German sculptor
- 13 May:
- * Theodor Koch, German engineer and weapons manufacturer
- * Walter Richter, German actor
- 27 May – Lilo Milchsack, German promoter of Anglo-German relations
- 14 June – Liesel Bach, German aerobatic pilot
- 3 July – Max Herz, German businessman
- 2 August:
- * Alexander Golling, German actor
- * Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer
- * Ernst Kals, German submarine commander
- 15 August – Manfred von Brauchitsch, German racing driver
- 19 September – Theodor Blank, German politician
- 27 September – Ernst Baier, German figure skater
- 1 October – Alfons Goppel, German politician
- 6 October – Wolfgang Liebeneiner, German actor and film director
- 9 November – Erika Mann, German actress and writer
- 10 December – Heinrich Amersdorffer, German painter and printmaker
- 18 December – Hans Bernd von Haeften, German jurist
Deaths
- 14 January – Ernst Abbe, German physicist, optical scientist, entrepreneur, and social reformer
- 1 February – Oswald Achenbach, German painter
- 2 February – Robert Eitner, German musicologist, researcher and bibliographer
- 3 February – Adolf Bastian, German anthropologist
- 6 February – Maria Theresia Bonzel, German nun, founder of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration
- 9 February – Adolph Menzel, German painter
- 30 March – Georg Meissner, German anatomist and physiologist
- 14 April – Otto Wilhelm von Struve, German-Estonian astronomer
- 17 April – Karl Gutbrod, German judge
- 30 May – Albert Ellmenreich, German actor
- 15 June – Carl Wernicke, German physician, anatomist, psychiatrist and neuropathologist
- 18 June – Hermann Lingg, German poet
- 4 August – Walther Flemming, German biologist
- 6 October – Ferdinand von Richthofen German geographer and scientist
- 15 November – Max Spohr, German publisher
- 17 November – Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, German nobleman
- 15 December – Friedrich von Spiegel, German orientalist