1798 CE

Egyptian Campaign: Napoleon Bonaparte disembarks his French army in Marabout Bay near Alexandria. Charles Brockden Brown publishes the first significant American novel, the Gothic fiction Wieland: or, The Transformation; an American Tale. Capitulation of the French garrison at Hyderabad to East India Company troops under James Kirkpatrick, British Resident.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

April 7 – The Mississippi Territory is organized by the United States, from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina; later it is twice expanded, to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain (which acquired territory in trade with Great Britain).source
June 18 – The first of the four Alien and Sedition Acts, the Naturalization Act of 1798, is signed into law by U.S. President Adams, requiring immigrants to wait 14 years rather than five years to become naturalized citizens of the United States. On June 25, another law is signed authorizing the imprisonment and deportation of any non-citizens deemed to be dangerous.source
July 7 – Quasi-War: The United States Congress rescinds treaties with France, sparking the war.source
July 11 – The United States Marine Corps is re-established under its present name.source
July 31 – A second round of elections are held in the Netherlands (Batavian Republic); no general elections this time.source
September 10 – The Piedmontese Republic is declared in the territory of Piedmont.source
October 2 – The Cherokee nation signs a treaty with the United States allowing free passage through Cherokee lands in Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap through the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia into Kentucky.source

Conflict & Security

January 22 – A coup d'état is staged in the Netherlands (Batavian Republic). Unitarian Democrat Pieter Vreede ends the power of the parliament (with a conservative-moderate majority).source
March 7 – French forces invade the Papal States and establish the Roman Republic.source
April 12 – The Helvetic Republic, a French client republic, is proclaimed following the collapse of the Old Swiss Confederacy after the French invasion; Aarau becomes the republic's temporary capital.source
May 7 – French Revolutionary Wars: A French force attempting to dislodge a small British garrison on the Îles Saint-Marcouf is repulsed with heavy losses.source
May 27 – Pitt–Tierney duel takes place on Putney Heath. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger fights a duel against opposition politician George Tierneysource
June 12 – French invasion of Malta: French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte capture the island fortress of Malta on the way to Egypt.source
July 1 – Egyptian Campaign: Napoleon Bonaparte disembarks his French army in Marabout Bay near Alexandria.source
July 12 – Battle of Shubra Khit: French troops defeat the Mamelukes, during Napoleon's march from Alexandria to take Cairo.source
July 14 – The fourth of the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Sedition Act of 1798 is signed into law, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.source
July 21 – Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Ottoman forces near the Pyramids. French forces claim control over Egypt's political center.source
August 1 – Battle of the Nile (near Abu Qir): Lord Nelson defeats the French navy under Admiral Brueys. 11 of the 13 French battleships are captured or destroyed, including the flagship Orient whose magazine explodes; Nelson himself is wounded in the head.source
August 22 – French troops land at Kilcummin in County Mayo to assist the Irish Rebellion.source
September 10 – Battle of St. George's Caye: Off the coast of British Honduras (modern-day Belize), a group of European settlers and Africans defeats a Spanish force sent from Mexico to drive them out.source
September 23 – Battle of Killala: in the last land battle of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, British troops defeat the remaining rebel Irish and French forces at Killala.source
October 7 – U.S. Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont becomes the first member of Congress to be put on trial for violating the new Sedition Act of 1798.source
October 12 – Peasants War against the French occupiers of the Southern Netherlands begins in Overmere.source
October 21–22 – Revolt of Cairo: Napoleon Bonaparte suppresses a revolt in Cairo. French occupation survives but becomes more dependent on force and administration.source
October 22 – Capitulation of the French garrison at Hyderabad to East India Company troops under James Kirkpatrick, British Resident.source
October 23 – The Ottoman–Albanian forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeat the French and capture the town of Preveza in the Battle of Nicopolis.source
October 25 – The Ottoman–Albanian forces of Ali Pasha of Janina capture Butrint from the French after a week-long siege.source
November 4 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu, held by the French, begins.source
December 5 – Peasants War in the Southern Netherlands: The revolt is crushed in Hasselt; during the uprising it is estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 people have been killed.source
December 6 – General Joubert of the Piedmontese Republic occupies the Sardinian capital of Turin.source
The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry, a British Army Yeomanry Cavalry Regiment, formed by The Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle, Ayrshire in 1794, is adopted onto the British Army List.source

Exploration & Expansion

May 9 – Napoleon sets off for Toulon, sailing aboard Vice-Admiral Brueys's flagship L'Orient; his squadron is part of a larger fleet of over 300 vessels, carrying almost 37,000 troops.source
July 7 – In the action of USS Delaware vs La Croyable, the newly-formed United States Navy makes its first capture.source
November 8 – British whaler John Fearn becomes the first European to land on Nauru.source
November 28 – Trade between the United States and modern-day Uruguay begins when John Leamy's frigate John arrives in Montevideo.source

Religion & Belief

February 10 – The Pope is taken captive, and the Papacy is removed from power, by French General Louis-Alexandre Berthier.source
June 13 – Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded in California.source

Economy & Finance

Nathan Mayer Rothschild moves from Frankfurt in the Holy Roman Empire to England, settling up in business as a textile trader and financier in Manchester.source

Technology & Infrastructure

January – Eli Whitney contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 muskets, which he produces with interchangeable parts.source
April 30 – The United States Department of the Navy is established as a cabinet-level department. Benjamin Stoddert, a civilian businessman, is appointed as the first Navy Secretary by President Adams.source

Science & Discovery

Alois Senefelder invents lithography.source
Thomas Malthus publishes An Essay on the Principle of Population (anonymously) in London.source
The platypus is first discovered by Europeans.source

Health & Medicine

July 16 – The Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen Act is signed into law, creating the Marine Hospital Service, the forerunner to the current United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.source
September 5 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan Law.source
The first census in Brazil counts 2 million blacks in a total population of 3.25 million.source
Edward Jenner publishes An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ, describing the smallpox vaccine, in London.source

Crime & Justice

February 15 – U.S. Representative Roger Griswold (Fed-CT) beats Congressman Matthew Lyon (Dem-Rep-VT) with a cane, after the House declines to censure Lyon for earlier spitting in Griswold's face; the House declines to discipline either man.source

Culture & Society

January 4 – Constantine Hangerli enters Bucharest, as Prince of Wallachia.source
September 18 – Lyrical Ballads is published anonymously by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, inaugurating the English Romantic movement in literature.source
September – Charles Brockden Brown publishes the first significant American novel, the Gothic fiction Wieland: or, The Transformation; an American Tale.source

Births

January 14 – William Duncombe, 2nd Baron Feversham, British politician (d. 1867)source
January 15 – Thomas Crofton Croker, Irish antiquary and artist (d. 1854)source
January 19 – Auguste Comte, French philosopher, pioneer of positivism (d. 1857)source
March 18 – Francis Lieber, German-American jurist, gymnast and political philosopher (d. 1872)source
April 27 – Claire Clairmont, British writer, mother of Lord Byron's daughter (d. 1879)source
May 4 – Charles Kanaʻina, Hawaiian noble, father of King Lunalilo (d. 1877)source
June 26 – Josiah Warren, American social reformer, philosopher, inventor, musician, author (d. 1874)source
June 29 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet, philosopher and writer (d. 1837)source
July 13 – Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas I of Russia (d. 1860)source
August 11 – Dominick Daly, Governor of Prince Edward Island & South Australia (d. 1868)source
October 2 – Théodore Guérin, Catholic saint and nun from France (d. 1856)source
October 28 – Levi Coffin, American educator and abolitionist (d. 1877)source
December 24 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish writer (d. 1855)source
December 27 – Alexander Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop, church lawyer & politician (d. 1870)source

Deaths

January 22 – Lewis Morris, American landowner and developer, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. 1726)source
March 25 – General Michel Joachim Marie Raymond, French leader of the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad (poisoned) (b. 1755)source
April 14 – Henry Mowat, Scottish-born British Royal Navy officer (b. 1734)source
May 10 – George Vancouver, British Royal Navy officer, explorer (Vancouver, Canada is named after him) (b. 1757)source
June 4 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer, writer (b. 1725)source
June – Betsy Gray, Irish rebel heroinesource
August 1 – François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1753)source
August 11 – Joshua Clayton, American politician (b. 1744)source
August 21 – James Wilson, American politician (b. 1742)source
September 21 – George Read, American lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)source
October 12 – Battle of Tory Island: A British Royal Navy squadron, under Sir John Borlase Warren, prevents French Republican ships, commanded by Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart, from landing reinforcements for the Society of United Irishmen on the County Donegal coast; Irish leader Wolfe Tone is captured and later dies of his wounds. This ends the Irish Rebellion of 1798.source
November 15 – Angelo Maria Amorevoli, Italian operatic tenor (b. 1716)source
November 19 – Wolfe Tone, Irish republican (b. 1737)source
December 16 – Thomas Pennant, Welsh naturalist (b. 1726)source