1885 in Germany

Incumbents

National level

• Kaiser – William I
• Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

  State level

Kingdoms

• King of Bavaria – Ludwig II of Bavaria
• King of Prussia – Kaiser William I
• King of Saxony – Albert of Saxony
• King of Württemberg – Charles I of Württemberg

  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 – Prince Albert of Prussia
• 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

  Colonial Governors

• Cameroon – Maximilian Buchner ' to 1 April, then Eduard von Knorr ' to 4 July, then Julius Freiherr von Soden ' '
• German East Africa from 27 May – Karl Peters '
• German New Guinea – Gustav von Oertzen '
• German South-West Africa – Gustav Nachtigal ' to May 1885, then Heinrich Ernst Göring '
• Togoland – Heinrich Randad ' to 26 June, then Ernst Falkenthal '
• Wituland from 8 April – Gustav Denhardt

  Events

• 17 February – German government grants an imperial charter to Carl Peters for establishment of a protectorate in East Africa.
• 26 February – The final act of the Berlin Conference regulates European colonization and trade in Africa.
• 26 March – Prussian deportations: the Prussian government orders the expulsion of all ethnic Poles and Jews holding Russian citizenship, later extended to include Polish Austrian citizens. More than 30,000 people are forced across the border.
• 3 April – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his 1-cylinder water-cooled engine design.
• 8 April – The sultan of Witu cedes 25 square miles of territory to German brothers Clemens and Gustav Denhardt, which becomes the first German territory in Wituland.
• 27 May – The remainder of the Wituland becomes the German Protectorate of Wituland.

  Undated

• Karl Benz produces the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, regarded as the first automobile.
• Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach produce the Daimler Reitwagen, regarded as the first motorcycle.

  Births

• 2 January – Anna Hübler, German pair skater
• 17 January – Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, German general
• 27 January – Eduard Künneke, German composer
• 1 February – Friedrich Kellner, German diarist
• 7 February – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal of Luftwaffe
• 11 March – Hans Leibelt, German film actor
• 18 April – Claus Bergen, German painter
• 14 May – Otto Klemperer, German conductor
• 21 May – Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg, German-born Albanian noblewoman
• 2 June – Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt, German neuropathologist
• 9 June – Carl Hoffmann, German film director
• 30 June – Heinrich Schomburgk, German tennis player
• 6 July – Ernst Busch, German field marshal
• 8 July – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher
• 8 July – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer
• 24 July – Paul von Hase, German soldier
• 9 August – Hans Lachmann-Mosse, German publisher
• 29 August – Paul Leni, German filmmaker
• 7 September – Franz Eichhorst, German painter
• 9 September – Paul Henckels, German actor
• 14 September – Carl de Vogt, German actor
• 8 November – Emil Fahrenkamp, German architect
• 9 November – Julius Ebbinghaus, German philosopher
• 24 November – Rudolf Klein-Rogge, German actor
• 26 November – Heinrich Brüning, German politician and former Chancellor of Germany
• 30 November – Albert Kesselring, German Generalfeldmarshal of Luftwaffe
• 17 December – Theodor Steltzer, German politician
• 25 December – Albert Betz, German physicist and a pioneer of wind turbine technology

  Deaths

• 12 January – Prince August of Württemberg, German nobleman and general in Army of Kingdom Württemberg
• 22 February – Carl Scheppig, German architect
• 21 March – Franz Abt, German composer and choral conductor
• 6 April – Eduard Vogel von Falckenstein, Prussian general
• 7 April – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist
• 2 June – Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern, head of the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern from 1869 and Prime Minister of Prussia
• 15 June – Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, Prussian nobleman
• 16 June – Wilhelm Camphausen, German painter
• 17 June – Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel, German field marshal
• 24 August – Eduard Riedel, German architect
• 17 September – Gustav Becker, German clockmaker
• 23 September – Carl Spitzweg, German painter
• 17 November – Gustav Seyffarth, German egyptologist
• 6 December – Robert Gerwig, German civil engineer and politician
• 9 December – Hermann Heinrich Becker, German politician