1875 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 of Württemberg

  Grand Duchies

• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick I
• Grand Duke of Hesse – Louis III
• 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 – Günther Friedrich Karl II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
• Principality of Lippe – Leopold III, Prince of Lippe to 8 December, then 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 – William, Duke of Brunswick
• Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
• Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
• Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

  Events

• 22–27 May – The Gotha Program is adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany
• 27 May – German company Soennecken is founded
• 28 June – German company Lürssen is founded
• 16 August – The Hermannsdenkmal was inaugurated in Detmold.

  Undated

• German company Bauer Media Group is founded
• German company Schiesser is founded
• Congregations Law
• The weekly medical journal, Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, is established in Germany by Paul Börner
• Hotel Kaiserhof opens in Berlin.

  Births

• 4 February – Ludwig Prandtl, German engineer
• 6 February – Otto Gessler, German politician
• 18 February – Wilhelm Külz, German politician
• 26 February – Erich Koch-Weser, German lawyer and politician
• 22 March – Hans Grimm, German writer
• 1 June – Carl Severing, German politician
• 6 June – Thomas Mann, German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist
• 22 June – Johannes Baader, German architect, writer and artist
• 3 July – Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon
• 3 September – Ferdinand Porsche, German automotive engineer
• 20 September – Matthias Erzberger, German politician
• 23 September – Hedwig Wangel, German actress
• 11 October – August Marahrens, German Protestant bishop who served as Landesbischof of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover
• 12 October – Emil Rudolf Weiß, German painter and poet
• 31 October – Heinrich Thyssen, German entrepreneur and art collector
• 4 November – Arthur Crispien, German politician
• 20 November – Friedrich Werner von der Schulenburg, German diplomat
• 9 December – Carl Wentzel, German farmer
• 12 December – Gerd von Rundstedt, German Field Marshal
• 14 December – Paul Löbe, German politician

  Deaths

• 4 January – Michael Deinlein, German bishop
• 6 January – Frederick William, Elector of Hesse, German nobleman
• 20 May – Carl Heinrich Theodor Knorr, German businessman and founder of the company Knorr
• 4 June – Eduard Mörike, German poet
• 18 June – Wilhelm Paul Corssen, German philologist
• 20 June – Wilhelm Bauer, German engineer
• 15 October – Theodor Hosemann, German painter and illustrator
• 4 November – Robert von Mohl, German Jurist
• 8 December – Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, German nobleman