1798 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar).

Events

• February-October - Irish Rebellion of 1798
• 7 March - French forces invade the Papal States and establish the Roman Republic
• April 7 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain
• April 26 - France annexes Geneva
• May 24 - Irish nationalists rebel against British occupation forces believing that French troops were going to invade Ireland. A small French contingent lands at Killala near Castlebar in County Mayo.
• June 12 - French take Malta
• June 13 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded.
• July 1 - Napoleon's troops land on Egypt
• July 7 - Quasi-War: The U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the 'war.'
• July 11 - The United States Marine Corps was (re-?)established.
• July 14 - The Alien and Sedition Acts become United States law making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government
• July 21 - Napoleon defeats Mameluke forces near the Pyramids
• July 24 - Napoleon occupies Cairo
• August 1 - Horatio Nelson defeats the French navy under Admiral Brueys at the Battle of the Nile. Nelson himself is wounded on the head
• September 18 - Lyrical Ballads published anonymously by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth

• first (anonymous) publication of An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Malthus
• Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Scientific Editor, Astronomer, begins editing journals about navigation and the geographic positions of cities.
• X, Y, Z Affair in the U.S., followed by naval skirmishes but no war is declared.
• First mechanical music boxes
• Alessandro Volta and La Place discover electricity
• The Afghans Army occupied Lahore in Punjab
• Timothy Dexter - A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress
• Aarau is the temporary capital of the Helvetic Republic
• Alois Senefelder invents lithography

Ongoing events

• French Revolution (1789-1799 Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802)-Second Coalition/Egyptian Campaign

Births

• January 14 - Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician
• January 17 - Auguste Comte, "father" of sociology
• January 20 - Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (d. 1858)
• March 13 - Abigail Fillmore, First Lady of the United States
• March 30 - Luise Hensel , poet (d. 1876)
• April 2 - August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German lyricist, writer (d. 1874)
• April 26 - Eugène Delacroix, French painter
• April 28 - Duncan Forbes, linguist
• June 29 - Giacomo Leopardi, Italian writer (d. 1837)
• October 2 - Charles Albert of Savoy, King of Sardinia
• December 24 - Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poets and author.
• William Abbot - English actor

Deaths

• December 4 - Luigi Galvani, physicist