1898
| File:Decade.png ( 1890s: ) 1898 link | |
|---|---|
.jpg) This poster combines two propaganda themes, humanitarian imperialism and outrage over an alleged Spanish sneak attack on the USS Maine, to justify the US conquest of Cuba. | |
| year 1897 |
Events
- February 15 – Spanish–American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba, for reasons never fully established, killing 266 men. The event precipitates the United States' declaration of war on Spain, two months later.
- February 23 – Émile Zola is imprisoned in France, after writing J'Accuse…!.
- March 1 – Vladimir Lenin creates the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party.
- March 16 – In Melbourne the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which will become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.
- 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 (later backdating this one more day to April 20).
- May 7–9 – Bava Beccaris massacre: Hundreds of demonstrators are killed, when General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris orders troops to fire on a rally in Milan, Italy.
- May 12 – Spanish–American War: The Puerto Rican Campaign begins, with the Bombardment of San Juan.
- May 27 – The territory of Kwang-Chou-Wan is leased by China to France, according to the Treaty of 12 April 1892, as the Territoire de Kouang-Tchéou-Wan, forming part of French Indochina.
- June 9 – The British government arranges a 99-year rent of Hong Kong from China.
- June 12 – Philippine Declaration of Independence: After more than 377 years of Spanish dominance, General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain.
- June 21 – Spanish–American War: The United States captures Guam, making it the first U.S. overseas territory.
- June 28 – Effective date of the Curtis Act of 1898 which will lead to the dissolution of tribal and communal lands in Indian Territory and ultimately the creation of the State of Oklahoma in 1907.
- July 1 – Spanish–American War: Battle of San Juan Hill – United States troops (including Buffalo Soldiers and Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders) take a strategic position close to Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
- July 7 – The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
- July 25 – Spanish–American War: The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins, with a landing at Guánica Bay.
- August 12 – Spanish–American War: Hostilities end between American and Spanish forces in Cuba.
- August 13 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila – By prior agreement, the Spanish commander surrenders the city of Manila to the United States, in order to keep it out of the hands of Filipino rebels, ending hostilities in the Philippines.
- August 28 – American pharmacist Caleb Bradham names his soft drink Pepsi-Cola.
- 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 – Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni assassinates Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Geneva, as an act of propaganda of the deed.
- September 18 – Fashoda Incident: A powerful flotilla of British gunboats arrives at the French-occupied fort of Fashoda on the White Nile, leading to a diplomatic stalemate, until French troops are ordered to withdraw on November 3.
- September 21 – factions using the hapless Empress Dowager Cixi as a front engineers a coup d'état in China, marking the end of the Hundred Days' Reform; the Guangxu Emperor is arrested.
- October 1 – The Vienna University of Economics and Business is founded, under the name K.U.K. Exportakademie.
- October 3–8 – The Stuttgart Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany is held in Stuttgart.
- November 10 – The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, a coup d'état by the white Democratic Party of North Carolina, begins.
- December 10 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish–American War.
- December 26 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of an element that they name radium.
Unknown dates
- As a result of the merger of several small oil companies, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company controls 84% of the USA's oil, and most American pipelines.