1898

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century

Decades: 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s

Years: 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 - 1898 - 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903

• January 13 - Emile Zola's J'accuse exposes the Dreyfus affair.
• February 7 - Emile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse[?]
• February 12 - Henry Lindfield, dies in England. Lindfield was the first fatality from an autobile accident.
• February 15 - Spanish-American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor[?], Cuba for then unknown reasons killing more than 260. This event helped lead the United States to declare war on Spain.
• February 23 - Emile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse[?]" which was a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Alfred Dreyfus in jail.
• March 24 - Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that was advertised in Scientific American.
• April 22 - Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade[?] of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
• April 25 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain; the United States Congress announces that a state of war has existed since April 21.
• June 12 - Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declares Philippines' independence from Spain.

• Fashoda incident -- diplomatic dispute between France and the United Kingdom
• The Treaty of Peace ending the Spanish-American War is signed in Paris on December 10, 1898.

Births

• January 7 - Rudolf Fernau[?], actor (+ 1985)
• January 16 - Margaret Booth, film editor
• January 23 - Sergei Eisenstein, director
• February 10 - Bertolt Brecht - playwright, writer and poet
• February 14 - Fritz Zwicky[?], physicist and astronomer (+ 1974)
• February 18 - Enzo Ferrari, auto racer, manufacturer (+ 1988)
• February 24 - Kurt Tank, aeronautical engineer (+ 1983)
• March 6 - Therese Giehse[?], actress (+ 1975)
• March 11 - Dorothy Gish, actress (+ 1968)
• April 3 - George Jessel[?], comedian (+ 1981)
• May 3 - Golda Meir - Israeli Prime Minister
• May 15 - Arletty[?], model, actress (+ 1992)
• May 17 - Alfred Joseph Casson[?] painter (+ 1992)
• May 21 - Armand Hammer[?], physician, entrepreneur, oil magnate, art collector
• May 23 - Scott O'Dell[?], author (+ 1989)
• May 31 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale[?] (clergyman)
• June 17 - M. C. Escher - Dutch graphic artist
• July 30 - Henry Moore - sculptor
• August 26 - Peggy Guggenheim, art collector
• November 18 - Joris Ivens, director
• September 26 - George Gershwin - composer
• November 8 - Marie Prevost, actress (+ 1937)
• November 21 - Rene Magritte - surrealist artist
• November 29 - C. S. Lewis - British author

Deaths

• January 14 - Lewis Carroll, writer, mathematician
• May 19 - William Ewart Gladstone, British prime minister
• July 30 - Otto von Bismarck - German Statesman
• October 24 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter