National level edit

• Kaiser – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
• Chancellor – Otto von Bismarck

State level edit

Kingdoms edit

• King of Bavaria – Otto
• King of Prussia – William I to 9 March, then Frederick III to 15 June, then Wilhelm II
• King of Saxony – Albert
• King of Württemberg – Charles

Grand Duchies edit

• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
• Grand Duke of Hesse – Louis IV
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – Frederick Francis III
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Frederick William
• Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Peter II
• Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – Charles Alexander

Principalities edit

• Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – George Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
• Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Karl Günther, 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 edit

• Duke of Anhalt – Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt
• Duke of Brunswick – Prince Albert of Prussia (regent)
• 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 edit

• Cameroon (Kamerun) – Eugen von Zimmerer (1st term) to 17 January, then Julius Freiherr von Soden (2nd term)
• German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) – Karl Peters (administrator) to 8 February, then Hermann Wissmann (commissioner) (1st term)
• German New Guinea (Deutsch-Neuguinea) – Georg Freiherr von Schleinitz to 1 March, then Reinhold Kraetke (both Landeshauptleute of the German New Guinea Company)
• German South-West Africa (Deutsch-Südwestafrika) – Heinrich Ernst Göring (acting commissioner)
• Togoland – Jesko von Puttkamer (acting commissioner) (1st term) to 17 October, then Eugen von Zimmerer (commissioner)
• Wituland (Deutsch-Witu) – Gustav Denhardt (resident)

• 9 March – Emperor Wilhelm I dies at the age of 90 in Berlin. He is succeeded by his oldest son Friedrich Wilhelm, who becomes Friedrich III.
• 16 April – The German Empire annexes the island of Nauru
• 15 June – Wilhelm II becomes German Emperor after the death of his father, Friedrich III.
• 13 December – Heinrich Hertz presents his report on the discovery of electromagnetic radiation to the Berlin Academy of Sciences

• 'Theses on Feuerbach' by Karl Marx is published posthumously

• Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata in D Minor (opus 108)
• Max Reger – String Quartet in D minor (with double bass obbligato; without op.) (1888–89)
• Joseph Rheinberger — Organ Sonata No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 154
• Richard Strauss
  • Don Juan, Macbeth (first version)
• Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos completed posthumously by Theodor Hell

• Establishment of association football clubs BFC Germania, TGM SV Jügesheim and KBC Duisburg

• First buildings of the Berufsgenossenschaftliches Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil opened