It is an established fact that a political revolution, judiciously carried out, is the violent means employed by nations to recover the sovereignty which naturally belongs to them, when the same has been usurped and trodden under foot by tyrannical and arbitrary government. There, the Philippine Revolution cannot be more justifiable than it is, because the country has only resorted to it after having exhausted all peaceful means which reason and experience dictated.
Philippine revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo, declaring Philippine independence from Spain.
It is the tide of God's great purposes made manifest in the instincts of our race, whose present phase is our personal profit, but whose far-off end is the redemption of the world and the Christianization of mankind. And he who throws himself before that current is like him who, with puny arm, tries to turn the gulf stream from its course, or stay, by idle incantations, the blessed processes of the sun...Fellow Americans, we are God's chosen people.
Senate candidate Albert J. Beveridge, perfectly summing up the ideology later known as "manifest destiny" in his campaign speech, "The March of the Flag."
In the year 1898...
- The Spanish-American War breaks out between the United States and Spain as a result of the still unresolved Cuban War of Independence, insults to President McKinley in the de Lome Letter, and the mysterious explosion of the US battleship Maine in Havana harbor. In the brief 16-week conflict, US forces crush antiquated Spanish fleets in both the Pacific and the Atlantic, and Spain sues for peace, ultimately ceding the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States and guaranteeing Cuban independence.
- Outraged by the ongoing cover-up of the Dreyfus Affair, French novelist Émile Zola publishes "J'accuse" ("I accuse"), an open letter to the French President accusing the army and the government of improprieties and demanding justice for falsely accused Jewish artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus. Zola is imprisoned for libel, but his dramatic letter stirs the French people to action and the ensuing firestorm of public outrage would eventually lead to Dreyfus's exoneration from the false treason charges.
- The Scramble for Africa between Britain and France reaches a climax in the "Fashoda Incident" as the two nations stare each other down over control of a farflung outpost in the Eastern Sudan with crucial access to the Nile River. The crisis reaches a fever pitch in October when both nations mobilize their main battle fleets for war, but ultimately saner heads prevail and both nations back down.
- In the midst of the US-Spain conflict, Filipino general Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence, setting the islands on a road to a bloody war with the United States.
- Chinese dowager empress CiXi engineers a palace coup, deposing the reformist Guangxu Emperor, ending his "Hundred Days' Reform," and setting China on a collision course with the Western powers that would ultimately lead to the Boxer Rebellion.
- The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
- The Second Anglo-Sudanese War draws to a bloody close as British forces under Lord Horatio Kitchener crush Sudanese tribesmen led by Khalifa Abdullah al-Taashi at the decisive Battle of Omdurman. 50,000 dervishes charge the Anglo-Egyptian lines, only to be mowed down by howitzers and machine guns. The Sudanese suffer over 11,000 dead and 16,000 wounded, while the British lose 11 men.
- Italian general Fiorenzo Bava-Beccaris orders cannons fired against a crowd of citizens protesting the high price of bread in Milan, killing hundreds. Italian king Umberto I's support of Bava-Beccaris following the massacre would lead to his assassination by an anarchist the following year.
- Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium, which will win them the Nobel Prize and also cost Marie her life.
- English chemists William Ramsay and Morris Travers discover neon gas.
- New York City annexes Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island, initiating the five-boroughs system.
- North Carolina pharmacist Caleb Bradham begins selling a drink called Pepsi Cola, which he touts as a cure for dyspepsia.
These people were born in 1898:
These people died in 1898:
These books were first published in 1898:
1897 - 1898 - 1899
19th century
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