1900 in Germany - Events

Events

• January 4 - Riots break out as miners go on strike.
• January 6 - The German steamer Herzog was seized by the British warship HMS Thetis outside of Delagoa Bay in East Africa, on suspicions that it was carrying supplies to Boer troops. The Portuguese colonial Governor of Zambesia was among the passengers After none were found, the ship and its crew were released on January 22.
• 1 March - The German flag was formally hoisted at Apia, the capital of Samoa, and Wilhelm Solf became the colony's first governor. Chief Mata'afa, who had fought against the Germans, and Chief Tamasese, who had been the puppet ruler during German occupation, reconciled. Mata'afa was named as the Paramount Chief of the Western Samoa colony, although Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II was designated as the Paramount King.
• 1 April - The 6th Royal Bavarian Division is raised as anew addition to the German Imperial Army
• 13 June - When three Chinese Boxers came too close to the German legation, one of them, a young man, was captured by the German guards. Baron von Ketteler, the German minister thrashed the Boxer with his cane, ordered his guards to extend the beating, and warned the Chinese Foreign Ministry (the Zongli Yamen) that the boy would die. Over the next few days, the foreign diplomats began shooting at Chinese nationals near the legation quarter. Von Ketteler himself would be killed on June 20. The same day, communication between the foreign embassies and the rest of the world was halted as their telegraph lines were severed.
• 14 June - At 7:00 pm, German embassy guards, under the direction of Ambassador Ketteler, fired on Boxer rebels outside the legation quarter, killing 20. Lancelot Giles of the British embassy, recorded the incident in his diary that night, noting the furious shouts from a crowd trying to get into the city. G.E. Morrison, correspondent for the London Times, noted another incident where 45 Chinese were killed in a raid by the Europeans on a temple.
• 14 June – The Reichstag approves a second law that allows the expansion of the German navy.
• 20 June - Clemens von Ketteler, the German ambassador to China, was murdered as he and an aide went to the Chinese Foreign Ministry (Zongli Yamen) without their guards. With seven hours left until a 4 p.m. deadline for all foreigners to leave Beijing, Baron von Ketteler defied his fellow ambassadors and left the safety of the diplomatic quarter. Von Ketteler was shot and killed (by a Boxer later identified as En Hai) as he approached the Zongli Yamen. His interpreter, Heinrich Cordes, survived to return to the embassy, at which point evacuation was no longer an option. American ambassador Conger would later report that he had learned "that Prince Tuan had planned to have his soldiers massacre all the foreign ministers at the Tsungli Yamen on June 20. But...the impatient soldiers prematurely attacked and killed Baron von Kettler... we were not invited to the Tsungli Yamen, and so were saved. The directive to Mr. Conger stated, "The princes and ministers...beg that within twenty-four hours the minister of the United States, with his family... and taking his guards, keeping them under control, will leave for Tientsin, in order to avoid danger. An escort of troops has been dispatched to give protection en route, and the local officials have been also notified to allow the minister's party to pass." At 4:00 p.m., Chinese troops began their siege of the foreign legations quarter, where 900 foreigners, 523 defenders, and 3,000 Chinese Christians held out behind the walls. The siege would last 55 days.
• 21 June - China formally declared war on Germany.
• 14 July - In China, Tientsin (Tianjin) was captured by the Allied forces after a three day battle. The Allies had 775 killed or wounded, mostly from Russian troops and Japanese troops under the command of the Japanese Colonel Kuriya. Parties of German and French soldiers destroyed the enemy's guns, while American, British, Japanese and Austrian troops, and the Welsh Fussillers captured the arsenal.
• 27 July - Kaiser Wilhelm II gave the infamous "Huns Speech" at Bremerhaven as he dispatched troops to fight in China. The most inflammatory line was, "Wie vor tausend Jahren die Hunnen unter ihrem König Etzel sich einen Namen gemacht, der sie noch jetzt in Überlieferung und Märchen gewaltig erscheinen läßt, so möge der Name Deutscher in China auf 1000 Jahre durch euch in einer Weise bestätigt werden, daß es niemals wieder ein Chinese wagt, einen Deutschen scheel anzusehen!". "Just as the Huns under their King Atilla made a name for themselves a thousand years ago which still, in saga and tradition, makes them appear powerful, so may the name "German" be impressed by you for a thousand years, that no Chinese will ever dare again look askance at a German!" The Germans were, for a century thereafter, referred to as "Huns".
• 17 October - Bernhard von Bülow became the fourth Chancellor of the German Empire, appointed by Kaiser Wilhelm I. The former Foreign Secretary succeeded Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe, who resigned because of his age (81) and health.
• 16 November - During a parade in Breslau, (now Wroclaw, Poland), a woman threw a hatchet at the open carriage of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Selma Schnapke, later ruled to be insane, threw well enough that the "hand chopper" struck the imperial carriage, and was arrested.
• 1 December - A census of the German Empire was taken. Provisional figures showed a population of 56,345,014.
• 31 December - At 3:00 in the afternoon in Beijing, Su-Hai, identified as the man who had killed Baron von Ketteler, Germany's minister to China, on June 20, became the last prominent person to die in the 19th Century. Su-Hai was beheaded at the scene of the crime.