1838 in Germany

• Kingdom of Prussia
  • Monarch – Frederick William III of Prussia (16 November 1797 – 7 June 1840)^[1]
• Kingdom of Bavaria
  • Monarch - Ludwig I (1825–1848)
  • Prime Minister – Karl von Abel (1837–1847)
• Kingdom of Saxony
  • Frederick Augustus (1836–1854)
• Kingdom of Hanover– Ernest Augustus (1837–1851)^[2]
• Kingdom of Württemberg – William (1816–1864)

Date unknown

• Friedrich Bessel makes the first accurate measurement of distance to a star.

• January 6- Max Bruch, German composer (d. 1920)
• January 16 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher, psychologist (d. 1917)
• June 24 – Gustav von Schmoller, German economist (d. 1917)
• July 8 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German military officer, founder of the Zeppelin Company (d. 1917)

• February 24 – Christoph Johann von Medem, German courtier (b. 1763)
• April 12 – Johann Adam Möhler, German theologian (born 1796)
• June 14 – Maximilian von Montgelas, Bavarian statesman (b. 1759)
• August 21 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (b. 1781)
• November 9 – Friedrich Carl Gröger, north-German portrait painter and lithographer (born 1766)

Van der Kiste, John (2004), George III's Children (revised ed.), Stroud, United Kingdom: Sutton Publishing Ltd, ISBN 978-0-7509-3438-1