1918 in Germany

Incumbents

National level

Head of State

• Kaiser – Wilhelm II, abdicated 9 November
• Republican – vacant

  Head of Government

• Chancellor - Georg von Hertling to 30 September, then from 3 October Prince Maximilian of Baden to 9 November
• Republican – from 9 November Friedrich Ebert, "Head of Government"

  State level

Kingdoms

• King of Bavaria – Ludwig III of Bavaria abdicated 7 November
• King of Prussia – Kaiser Wilhelm II, abdicated 9 November
• King of Saxony – Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, abdicated 13 November
• King of Württemberg – William II of Württemberg, abdicated 30 November

  Grand Duchies

• Grand Duke of Baden – Frederick II, abdicated 22 November
• Grand Duke of Hesse – Ernest Louis, abdicated 9 November
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin - Frederick Francis IV, abdicated 14 November
• Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – Adolphus Frederick VI, died 23 November, thereafter vacant
• Grand Duke of Oldenburg – Frederick Augustus II, abdicated 11 November
• Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – William Ernest, abdicated 9 November

  Principalities

• Schaumburg-Lippe – Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, abdicated 15 November
• Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg, abdicated 22 November
• Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg, abdicated 22 November
• Principality of Lippe – Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, abdicated 12 November
• Reuss Elder Line – Heinrich XXIV, Prince Reuss of Greiz, abdicated November
• Reuss Younger Line – Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line, abdicated November
• Waldeck and Pyrmont – Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, abdicated 13 November

  Duchies

• Duke of Anhalt – Frederick II, Duke of Anhalt to 21 April, then Eduard, Duke of Anhalt to 13 September, then Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt, abdicated 12 November
• Duke of Brunswick – Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, abdicated 8 November
• Duke of Saxe-Altenburg – Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, abdicated 13 November
• Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, abdicated 14 November
• Duke of Saxe-Meiningen – Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, abdicated 10 November

  Colonial Governor

• German East Africa – Heinrich Schnee to 14 November, although most of territory under Allied occupation.

  Events

October

• Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany appoints Max von Baden Chancellor of Germany.
• * King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria abdicates in the wake of the Bulgarian military collapse in WWI. He is succeeded by his son, Boris III.
• 4 October
• * Wilhelm II of Germany forms a new more liberal government to sue for peace.

  November

• 3 November
• * German Revolution: Sailors in the German fleet at Kiel mutiny and throughout northern Germany soldiers and workers begin to establish revolutionary councils on the Russian soviet model.
• 9 November
• * Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany abdicates and chooses to live in exile in the Netherlands.
• * Proclamation of German Republic by Philipp Scheidemann in Berlin on the Reichstag balcony.

• 11 November
• * End of WWI and Armistice with Germany : Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies between 5:12 AM and 5:20 AM in Marshal Foch's railroad car in Compiègne Forest in France. It becomes official on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

  Births

• 22 September – Hans Scholl, German White Rose resistance member
• 10 November – Ernst Otto Fischer, chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• 23 December – Helmut Schmidt, German politician

  Deaths

January

• 6 January – Georg Cantor, mathematician
• 7 January – Julius Wellhausen, biblical scholar
• 10 January – August Oetker, entrepreneur

  February

• 23 February – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, nobleman

  March

• 17 March – Hans Bethge, German World War I flying ace
• 30 March – Richard Beitzen, German World War I naval officer

  April

• 20 April – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics
• 22 April – Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt, nobleman
• 27 April – Oscar Troplowitz, German pharmacist and entrepreneur

  July

• 9 July – Hans am Ende, German Impressionist painter

  August

• 22 August – Korbinian Brodmann, German neuroanatom and psychiater
• 30 August – Wilhelm Kühne, German World War I flying ace

  September

• 13 September – Eduard, Duke of Anhalt, nobleman.

  October

• 18 October – Fritz Otto Brenert, German World War I flying ace
• 26 October – Olivier Freiherr von Beaulieu-Marconnay, German World War I flying ace

  November

• 5 November:
• * Wolfgang Zenker, German World War I naval officer
• * Bruno Heinemann, German World War I naval officer