1914 in Germany explained

Events in the year 1914 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

• Kaiser – Wilhelm II
• Chancellor – Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

State level

Kingdoms

• King of Bavaria – Ludwig III
• King of Prussia – Wilhelm II
• King of Saxony – Frederick Augustus III
• King of Württemberg – William II

Grand Duchies

• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick II
• Grand Duke of Hesse – Ernest Louis
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis IV
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Adolphus Frederick V to 11 June, then Adolphus Frederick VI
• Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Frederick Augustus II
• Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – William Ernest

Principalities

• Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg
• Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg
• Principality of Lippe – Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe
• Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz (with Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line, as regent)
• Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XXVII, 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 – Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
• Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst II, 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 to 25 June, then Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Colonial Governors

• Cameroon (Kamerun) – initially ... Full, acting governor, then Karl Ebermaier (2nd and final term)
• Kiaochow (Kiautschou) – Alfred Meyer-Waldeck to 7 November
• German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Albert Heinrich Schnee
• German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Albert Hahl (2nd term) tol 13 February, then Eduard Haber (acting governor) until 17 October
• German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa) – Erich Schultz-Ewerth tol 29 August
• German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Theodor Seitz
• Togoland – Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg to 31 August

Events

April

• April 24 – James Franck and Gustav Hertz's experiment on electron collisions showing internal quantum levels of atoms is presented to the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.

July

• 5 July:
  • The German Kaiser announces that he will not attend the Archduke's funeral.
  • A council is held at Potsdam, powerful leaders within Austria-Hungary and Germany meet to discuss possibilities of war with Serbia, Russia, and France.

August

• 1 August – The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire, following Russia's military mobilization in support of Serbia; Germany also begins mobilization.
• 3 August – World War I: Germany declares war on France
• 4 August:
  • World War I: Germany declares war on Belgium
  • World War I: German troops invade neutral Belgium. The United Kingdom declares war on Germany after the latter fails to respect Belgian neutrality.^[1]
• 7 August – World War I: French and British forces invade and occupy the German colony of Togoland.
• 9 August:
  • World War I: Battle of Mulhouse begins, the opening attack of by the French army against Germany.
  • World War I: The German submarine Unterseeboot 15 is sunk by the British HMS Birmingham.^[1]
• 23 August
  • The Republic of China cancels the German lease of Kiaochow Bay (Kiautschou).
  • World War I: A New Zealand expeditionary force occupies the German colony of German Samoa (Deutsch-Samoa), following an unopposed invasion.
  • World War I: Battle of Mons, the first major action of the war between the British Expeditionary Force and the German Army, in which the German forces are defeated.^[1]
• 28 August – World War I: The Battle of Heligoland - three German cruisers are sunk by British cruisers.

September

• 5–12 September – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins:^[1] Northeast of Paris, German forces are attacked by the British Expeditionary Force and the French 6th Army. Over 2 million fight (500,000 killed/wounded) in victory for the Anglo-French forces.
• 13–28 September – World War I: First Battle of the Aisne involving British, French and German forces.
• 21 September– World War I: All German armed forces in German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) surrender to the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force.

October

• 4 October – Manifesto of the Ninety-Three proclaimed in Germany.
• 19 October – 22 November – World War I: First Battle of Ypres fought between British, French and German forces in Ypres in Belgium.

November

• 1 November – World War I: Battle of Coronel fought – German forces, led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee, defeat a Royal Navy squadron.
• 7 November – World War I: Following the Siege of Tsingtao, Japanese armed forces assume control of the German colonial concession at Kiaochow Bay (Kiautschou).

December

• 8 December – World War I: The Battle of the Falkland Islands, the German fleet is defeated by the British Royal Navy.^[2]
• 24 December – World War I: German and British soldiers begin an unofficial Christmas truce.

Births

January

• 6 January - Heinz Berggruen, German art dealer (died 2007)
• 12 January  - Albrecht von Goertz, German car designer (died 2006)
• 18 January - Arno Schmidt, German author (died 1979)

February

• 4 February - Alfred Andersch, German writer (died 1980)
• 20 February - Erich Ziegler, German politician and resistance activist (died 2004)
• 20 February - Hans Pischner, German conductor (died 2016)
• 22 February - Karl Otto Götz, German painter (died 2017)

March

• Wilhelm Wegner, German highly decorated Leutnant in the Wehrmacht (died 1989)
• March 2 - Walter Haeussermann, German engineer and rocket scientist (died 2010)
• March 18 - Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover (died 1987)

April

• 8 April – Günter Amelung, highly decorated Rittmeister of the Reserves in the Wehrmacht (died 1944)
• 12 April - Gretel Bergmann, German high jumper (died 2017)
• 20 April – Otto Weiß, former German pair skater

May

• 3 May – Eugen-Ludwig Zweigart, German Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (died 1944)
• 7 May – Joachim Wandel, German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (died 1942)
• 26 May – Erhard Weiß, German diver (died 1957)
• 27 May – Otto Weidinger, member of the Waffen-SS (died (1990)

June

• 1 June – Karl Wanka, highly decorated Major of the Reserves in the Wehrmacht during World War II (died 1980)
• 13 June  - Prince Aschwin of Lippe-Biesterfeld, art historian (died 1988)

July

• 1 July – Orli Wald, member of the German Resistance in Nazi Germany (died 1962)
• 1 July - Christl Cranz, German alpine racer (died 2004)
• 9 July - Willi Stoph, German politician (died 1999)

August

• 27 August – Heidi Kabel, actress (died 2010)^[3]

September

• September 15 - Will Quadflieg, actor (died 2003)
• September 22 - Siegfried Lowitz, actor (died 1999)

November

• 6 November – Alfred Zwiebel, German-American landscape, floral, and still-life paint (died 2005)
• 13 November - Paul Lücke, German politician (died 1976)
• 15 November - Erich Steidtmann, German Nazi SS officer (died 2010)

December

• 5 December – Edmund Wagner, German Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (died 1941)
• 13 December – Fritz Zängl, German skier and soldier (died 1943)
• 14 December – Karl Carstens, German politician, former President of Germany (died 1992)
• 19 December – Dietrich Hrabak, German World War II flying ace (died 1995)
• 21 December – Theodor Weissenberger, German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II (died 1959)
• 24 December- Herbert Reinecker, German dramatist and screenwriter (died 2007)
• 26 December – Annemarie Wendl, German actress (died 2006)
• 29 December – Alfred Vohrer, German film director (died 1986)

Deaths

January

• 13 January - Alfred Lichtwark, German art historian and museum curator (born 1852)

March

• 21 March - August Wöhler, German railway engineer (born 1819)
• 22 March - Otto Harnack, German historian (born 1857)
• 31 March – Christian Morgenstern, German author (born 1871)

April

• 2 April – Paul Heyse German writer and translator (born 1839)
• 11 April - Carl Chun, German biologist (born 1852)

May

• 29 May - Paul Mauser, German weapon designer and manufacturer/industrialist (born 1838)

June

• 11 June – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, nobleman (born 1848)
• 16 June - Ferdinand Adolf Kehrer, German gynecologist w (born 1837)
• 25 June – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, nobleman (born 1826)

August

• 1 August – Adolf Zander, German composer (born 1843)
• 19 August – Franz Xavier Wernz, German Superior General of the Society of Jesus (born 1842)
• 24 August – Johannes Weiss, German Protestant theologian and biblical exegete (born 1863)

September

• 9 September - Albert Arnz, German painter (born 1832)
• 25 September – Alfred Lichtenstein (writer), German writer (born 1889)
• 26 September – August Macke, German painter (born 1887)
• 26 September - Hermann Löns, German poet (born 1866)

October

• 4 September – Theodor Weber, German physician (born 1829)
• 27 September – Robert von Pöhlmann, German ancient historian (born 1852)

November

• 2 November – Heinrich Burkhardt, German mathematician (born 1861)^[4]
• 5 November – August Weismann, German biologist (born 1834)
• 14 November - Leonhard Tietz, German merchant (born 1849)

December

• 13 December - Walther Bronsart von Schellendorff, German general (born 1833)
• 17 December – Otto Sackur, 34, (German physical chemist) (born 1880)

Date unknown

• Gustav Weymer, 81, (German entomologist)

Notes and References

1. Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 0-14-102715-0. 2006.
2. Book: The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. 1-85986-000-1. 483.
3. Book: John C. Dove. Who's Who in Germany 1992. 1992. Who's who the Internat. Red Series Verlag. 978-3-921220-65-8. 1061.
4. Book: Renate Tobies. Renate Tobies. Iris Runge: A Life at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Science, and Industry. 5 January 2012. Springer Science & Business Media. 978-3-0348-0251-2. 88.