The terms of the treaty of Prague, ending the Seven Weeks War, make plain the transfer of German leadership from Austria to Prussia

The first volume of Das Kapital is completed by Marx in London and is published in Hamburg

A revival of the Prussian Zollverein, or customs union, includes all the German states except Austria

Richard Wagner's opera The Mastersingers of Nuremberg has its premiere in Munich

Johannes Brahms' German Requiem, setting passages from Luther's translation of the Bible, has its first complete performance in Leipzig

Das Rheingold, with its premiere in Munich, is the first part of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle to be staged

Otto von Bismarck adjusts the Prussian king's telegram from Ems in a way calculated to provoke the French

With public opinion in France outraged by the Ems telegram, the French government declares war on Prussia

Richard Wagner marries Cosima, the daughter of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt

The Prussian king, William I, is proclaimed emperor of a united Germany in the palace at Versailles

Richard Wagner's sequence of four operas, The Ring of the Nibelungen, has its first complete performance at Bayreuth

Johannes Brahms' first symphony has its premiere in Karlsruhe

A congress in Berlin agrees that Austria may administer the Turkish province of Bosnia-Herzegovina

George Goldie and British traders on the Niger form the United African Company (later the Royal Niger Company) to consolidate their interests

Johannes Brahms' Academic Festival Overture is performed first at Breslau university, which has conferred on him an honorary Ph.D.

German bacteriologist Robert Koch announces his discovery of the bacillus that causes tuberculosis

Italy, previously non-aligned, signs a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary

In Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche envisages the Übermensch ('superman') enhancing human existence

Bismarck launches the colonial scramble for Africa by suddenly annexing three territories for Germany (Togo, Cameroon and Angria Pequena)

German mathematician Gottlob Frege publishes Grundlagen der Arithmetik ('Foundations of Arithmetic'), linking mathematics and logic

Bismarck invites the European powers to a West Africa Conference in Berlin

German engineer Karl Friedrich Benz builds the Tri-Star, a three-wheeled vehicle with an internal combustion that is considered the first commercial automobile

Bismarck pioneers in Germany state welfare policies such as sickness benefits and old-age pensions

Germany and Britain define neighbouring spheres of interest in east Africa

German engineer Gottlied Wilhelm Daimler builds the first successful 4-wheel vehicle with an internal combustion engine