---
title: "Which came first, Germany or the telephone?"
description: "Germany vs the telephone: Germany came first, by 5 years — 1871 against 1876. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/germany-vs-telephone/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Germany or the telephone?

**Which came first, Germany or the telephone?: Germany**

1871 — 5 years before the telephone

Germany came first, by 5 years. The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles.

## Side by side

|  | Germany | the telephone |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1871 | 1876 |
| Date | 1871-01-18 | 1876-03-07 |
| Category | country | invention |
| What happened | The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles. | Bell was granted US patent 174,465. |

## Germany

Germany as a unified state dates from 1871, which makes it younger than the United States, Canada, Italy and the bicycle. It then ceased to exist as a single state in 1949 and was reunified on 3 October 1990, so the current Federal Republic in its present borders is younger than the personal computer. Nintendo, founded in 1889, is older than most people's mental image of Germany allows.

## the telephone

Bell's patent was granted on 7 March 1876 and he made the famous call to Watson three days later. Elisha Gray filed a caveat for a similar device on the same day in February that Bell filed his application, and the priority dispute has never entirely gone away. Antonio Meucci had demonstrated a working voice telegraph in New York in 1860 but could not afford to renew his caveat.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Germany or the telephone?

Germany, by 5 years — 1871 against 1876.

### When did Germany start?

1871. The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles.

### When did the telephone start?

1876. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution (https://naturalhistory.si.edu/)