1898: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Events

• 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 automobile 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.
• March 26 - The Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa, the first officially designated game reserve
• 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.
• May 7 - General Bava-Beccaris killed 80 demonstrants in Milan, Italy shooting on a rally; King of Italy Umberto I will be killed two years after to revenge this shooting.
• June 1 - The Trans-Mississippi Exposition world's fair opens in Omaha, Nebraska.
• June 12 - General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.
• June 13 - Yukon Territory is formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
• June 17 - The Navy Hospital Corps is established.
• July 7 - The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
• July 17 - Spanish-American War: Battle of Santiago Bay - Troops under United States General William R. Shafter take the city of Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
• July 25 - Spanish-American War: The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins with a landing at Guánica Bay.
• September 2 - Battle of Omdurman - British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan.
• September 10 ? Luigi Liccheri assassinates Queen Elizabeth of Austria
• December 10 - The Treaty of Peace ending the Spanish-American War is signed in Paris.
• December 26 ? Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium

• Fashoda incident -- diplomatic dispute between France and the United Kingdom.
• John Henry Patterson kills the man-eating lions of Tsavo which were delaying the building of the Uganda Railway as described in the book "The Man-Eaters of Tsavo"
• Exploits of Louis de Rougemont begin to appear in the Wide World Magazine

• January 7 - Rudolf Fernau, actor (d. 1985)
• January 16 - Margaret Booth, film editor
• January 23 - Sergei Eisenstein, director
• February 3 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
• February 10 - Bertolt Brecht - playwright, writer and poet
• February 14 - Fritz Zwicky, physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
• February 14 - George Steed, businessman, philanthropist (d. 1988)
• February 15 - Allen Woodring, American sprinter
• February 18 - Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician (d. 1980)
• February 18 - Enzo Ferrari, auto racer, manufacturer (d. 1988)
• February 24 - Kurt Tank, aeronautical engineer (d. 1983)
• March 6 - Therese Giehse, actress (d. 1975)
• March 11 - Dorothy Gish, actress (d. 1968)
• April 3 - George Jessel, comedian (d. 1981)
• May 3 - Golda Meir - Israeli Prime Minister
• May 15 - Arletty, model, actress (d. 1992)
• May 17 - Alfred Joseph Casson painter (d. 1992)
• May 21 - Armand Hammer, entrepreneur, art collector
• May 23 - Scott O'Dell, author (d. 1989)
• May 31 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (clergyman)
• June 4 - Harry Crosby, publisher, poet (d. 1929)
• July 6 - Hanns Eisler, composer (d. 1962)
• June 17 - M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist
• July 2 - Gen Paul, French artist (d. 1975)
• July 22 - Erich Maria Remarque, a German writer (d. 1970)
• July 30 - Henry Moore - sculptor
• August 26 - Peggy Guggenheim, art collector
• August 29 - Preston Sturges, director and writer
• September 22 - Katherine Alexander, actress (d. 1981)
• September 26 - George Gershwin, composer (d. 1937)
• September 30 - Renee Adoree, french actress
• September 30 - Princess Charlotte of Monaco
• October 10 - Lilly Daché, milliner (d. 1989)
• October 15 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete
• November 8 - Marie Prevost, actress (d. 1937)
• November 18 - Joris Ivens, director
• November 21 - René Magritte, surrealist artist
• November 29 - C. S. Lewis, British author
• December 20 - Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
• December 24 - Baby Dodds, jazz musician (d. 1959)
• Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, later Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

• January 14 - Lewis Carroll, British writer, mathematician
• January 18 - Henry George Lidell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.
• March 1 - George Bruce Malleson, Indian officer and author (b. 1825)
• March 15 - Henry Bessemer, British Engineer inventor of the Bessemer process for the manufacture of steel.
• March 16 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist
• April 15 - Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
• May 19 - William Ewart Gladstone, British prime minister
• July 30 - Otto von Bismarck - German Statesman
• October 24 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter