1914 in Germany

Decades:	1890s; 1900s; 1910s; 1920s; 1930s;
See also:	Other events of 1914; History of Germany • Timeline • Years

Events in the year 1914 in Germany.

Incumbents

National level

Kaiser – Wilhelm II
Chancellor – Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg

State level

Kingdoms

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

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)

References

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

[Pocket_On_This_Day-1] Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.

[2] The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. p. 483. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.

[3] John C. Dove (1992). Who's Who in Germany 1992. Who's who the Internat. Red Series Verlag. p. 1061. ISBN 978-3-921220-65-8.

[4] Renate Tobies (5 January 2012). Iris Runge: A Life at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Science, and Industry. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 88. ISBN 978-3-0348-0251-2.

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