Events from the year 1848 in Germany.
- 10 January - Paul Tschackert, German Protestant theologian (died 1911)
- 12 January - Franz von Soxhlet, German agricultural chemist (died 1926)
- 2 February - Ludwig Dill, German painter (died 1940)
- 4 February - Hermann von Hatzfeldt, German nobleman and politician (died 1933)
- 5 February - Louis Schmeisser, German weapon technical designer (died 1917)
- 6 February - Wilhelm von Finck, German banker and entrepreneur (died 1924)
- 7 February - Adolf Weil, German physician (died 1916)
- 13 February – Hermann von Eichhorn, German field marshal (died 1918)
- 25 February – King William II of Württemberg (died 1921)
- 3 March - Gustav Fischer, German explorer (died 1886)
- 27 April – King Otto of Bavaria (died 1916)
- 23 May - Otto Lilienthal, German engineer, aviation pioneer (died 1896)
- 23 May - Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, German general (died 1916)
- 3 July – Lothar von Trotha, German military commander (died 1920)
- 22 July - Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (died 1914)
- 7 September - Berta Behrens, German novelist (died 1912)
- 8 September – Viktor Meyer, German chemist (died 1897)
- 18 September - Maximilian Nitze, German urologist (died 1916)
- 20 September – Friedrich Soennecken, German entrepreneur, inventor of the hole punch and ringbinder (died 1919)
- 8 November – Gottlob Frege, German logician (died 1925)
- 23 November - Habbo Gerhard Lolling, German archaeologist (died 1894)
- 27 November – Maximilian von Prittwitz, German general (died 1917)
- 22 December - Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, German classical philologist (died 1931)
- 9 January – Caroline Herschel, German astronomer (born 1750)
- 22 January - Karl Gottlieb Bretschneider, German Protestant scholar and theologian (born 1776)
- 15 February – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian field marshal (born 1771)
- 22 February – Wilhelmine Reichard, first German woman balloonist (born 1788)
- 24 May – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (born 1797)
- 10 July – Karoline Jagemann, German actress (born 1777)
- 18 September - Hans Adolf Erdmann von Auerswald, Prussian general (born 1792)
- 9 November – Robert Blum, German politician (born 1810)
- 28 November - Duchess Amelia of Württemberg, German noblewoman (born 1799)
- 16 December - Bruno Erhard Abegg, German politician and statesman (born 1803)
- 31 December - Johann Gottfried Jakob Hermann, German philologist (born 1772)
- undated - Ludwig Leichhardt, German explorer in Australia (born 1813)