1898 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).

Events

January

• January 1 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.
• January 13 - Emile Zola's J'accuse exposes the Dreyfus affair.

February

• 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

• 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

• 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 U.S. Congress announces that a state of war has existed since April 21.

May

• 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 avenge this shooting.

June

• June 1 - The Trans-Mississippi Exposition world's fair opens in Omaha, Nebraska.
• June 12 - Philippine Declaration of Independence: 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

• 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

• 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 Lucchesi assassinates Empress Elizabeth of Austria-Hungary

October

• October 1 - The Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration is founded under the name k.u.k. Exportakademie.

December

• 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
• North Petherton becomes the first town in England to install Acetylene lighting.
• John Jacob Abel isolates epinephrine (adrenaline).

Births

• January 7 - Rudolf Fernau , actor (d. 1985)
• January 16 - Margaret Booth, film editor (d. 2002)
• January 21 - Ahmad Shah Qajar, last Persian Shah of the Qajar dynasty (d. 1930)
• January 23 - Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director (d. 1948)
• February 3 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (d. 1976)
• February 10 - Bertolt Brecht, German writer (d. 1956)
• February 14 - Fritz Zwicky, Swiss physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
• February 14 - George Steed , businessman, philanthropist (d. 1988)
• February 15 - Allen Woodring, American sprinter (d. 1982)
• February 18 - Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician (d. 1980)
• February 18 - Enzo Ferrari, Italian auto racer, manufacturer (d. 1988)
• February 24 - Kurt Tank, German aeronautical engineer (d. 1983)
• February 28 - Hugh O'Flaherty, Roman Catholic monsignor (d. 1963)
• March 6 - Therese Giehse , actress (d. 1975)
• March 11 - Dorothy Gish, American actress (d. 1968)
• April 3 - George Jessel, American comedian (d. 1981)
• April 6 - Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter (d. 1920)
• April 26 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (d. 1984)
• May 3 - Golda Meir - Israeli Prime Minister (d. 1978)
• May 15 - Arletty, French model and actress (d. 1992)
• May 17 - Alfred Joseph Casson painter (d. 1992)
• May 21 - Armand Hammer, American entrepreneur and art collector (d. 1990)
• May 23 - Scott O'Dell, author (d. 1989)
• May 31 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
• June 4 - Harry Crosby, American publisher and poet (d. 1929)
• June 5 - Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet (d. 1936)
• June 17 - M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (d. 1972)
• July 2 - Gen Paul, French artist (d. 1975)
• July 3 - Donald Healey, motor engineer and race car driver (d. 1988)
• July 6 - Hanns Eisler, German composer (d. 1962)
• July 22 - Stephen Vincent Benet, American writer (d. 1943)
• July 22 - Erich Maria Remarque, German writer (d. 1970)
• July 30 - Henry Moore, English sculptor (d. 1986)
• August 26 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (d. 1979)
• August 29 - Preston Sturges, American director and writer (d. 1959)
• September 22 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (d. 1981)
• September 26 - George Gershwin, American composer (d. 1937)
• September 30 - Renee Adoree, French actress (d. 1933)
• September 30 - Princess Charlotte of Monaco (d. 1977)
• October 10 - Lilly Daché, French milliner (d. 1989)
• October 15 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (d. 1959)
• November 8 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (d. 1937)
• November 18 - Joris Ivens, Dutch director (d. 1989)
• November 21 - René Magritte, Belgian artist (d. 1967)
• November 29 - C. S. Lewis, British author (d. 1963)
• December 20 - Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
• December 24 - Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (d. 1959)
• Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 1960)
• Berenice Abbot , American photographer

Deaths

• January 14 - Lewis Carroll, British writer, mathematician (b. 1832)
• January 18 - Henry George Lidell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford (b. 1811)
• March 1 - George Bruce Malleson, Indian officer and author (b. 1825)
• March 15 - Henry Bessemer, British engineer, inventor (b. 1813)
• March 16 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b. 1872)
• April 15 - Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
• May 19 - William Ewart Gladstone, British prime minister {b. 1809)
• July 1 - Siegfried Marcus, Austrian - German automobile pioneer (b. 1831)
• July 30 - Otto von Bismarck, German statesman (b. 1815)
• September 2 - Wilford Woodruff, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1807)
• September 9 - Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet (b. 1842)
• October 24 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, French painter (b. 1824)