1898 in France

Incumbents

• President: Felix Faure
• President of the Council of Ministers:
• * until 28 June: Jules Méline
• * 28 June-31 October: Henri Brisson
• * starting 31 October: Charles Dupuy

  Events

• 13 January – Émile Zola's open letter to President Félix Faure on the Dreyfus affair, J'Accuse…!, is published on the front page of the Paris daily newspaper L'Aurore, accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully imprisoning Alfred Dreyfus.
• 7 February – Zola is brought to trial for criminal libel for publishing J'accuse.
• 23 February – Zola is imprisoned for J'accuse. Following dismissal of his appeal he flees to London to escape further punishment.
• 8 May – Legislative election held.
• 22 May – Legislative election held.
• 27 May – The territory of Guangzhouwan is leased by China to France, according to the Treaty of 12 April 1892, forming part of French Indochina.
• September – Fashoda Incident between Britain and France in Eastern Africa.
• 10 October – French military mission leaves for Chad.
• November – Voulet-Chanoine Mission, a military mission from Senegal to Chad.
• 10 December – The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish–American War is signed in Paris.
• 18 December – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first official land speed record in an automobile, averaging 63.15 km/h over 1 km.
• 26 December – Marie and Pierre Curie announce discovery of a substance they call radium.
• Dr Louis Perrier buys the spring at Vergèze and operates a commercial spa there, also bottling the water for sale.

  Arts and literature

• Henri Matisse paints Le Mur Rose

  Births

January to March

• 27 January – Robert Levasseur, rugby union player
• 8 February – Jean Charlot, painter and illustrator
• 11 February – Henri de la Falaise, translator, film director and film producer
• 18 February – Adolphe Jauréguy, rugby union player
• 4 March – Georges Dumézil, philologist
• 8 March – Georges Gimel, painter

  April to June

• 6 April – Jeanne Hébuterne, artist and subject for Amedeo Modigliani
• 5 May – Lise Deharme, née Anne-Marie Hirtz, writer
• 15 May – Arletty, singer and actress
• 16 May – Jean Fautrier, painter and sculptor
• 4 June – Émilienne Moreau-Evrard, hero of World War I and in French resistance during World War II
• 15 June – André Debry, one of the last surviving French veterans of World War I
• 29 June – Yvonne Lefébure, pianist

  July to September

• 5 July
• *André Badonnel, entomologist
• *André Chilo, rugby union player
• *Robert Lacoste, politician
• 10 July – Pierre Mollaret, neurologist
• 19 July – Étienne Decroux, actor and mime
• 31 July – Henri Navarre, General
• 13 August – Jean Borotra, tennis player
• 16 August – Jean Vallette d'Osia, Lieutenant General
• 13 September – Roger Désormière, conductor
• 15 September – Philippe Hériat, novelist, playwright and actor
• 16 September – Louis Jacquinot, lawyer and politician
• 30 September – Renée Adorée, actress

  October to December

• 10 October
• *Lilly Daché, milliner and fashion designer
• *Marie Pierre Kœnig, general and politician
• *Georges Malkine, painter
• 14 October – Maurice Martenot, cellist and inventor
• 25 October – René-Yves Creston, artist, designer and ethnographer
• 27 October – Élisabeth d'Ayen, tennis player
• 31 October
• *Édouard Depreux, journalist, essayist and politician
• *Alfred Sauvy, demographer, anthropologist and historian
• 11 November – René Clair, filmmaker
• 17 November – Maurice Journeau, composer
• 5 December – Henri Gouhier, philosopher, historian of philosophy and literary critic

  Full date unknown

• Marcel Boucher, jewellery designer
• Édouard Joly, aircraft designer

  Deaths

• 18 April – Gustave Moreau, painter
• 21 April – Théodore Gouvy, composer
• 7 July – Louis Buffet, statesman
• 3 August – Charles Garnier, architect
• 8 August – Eugène Boudin, painter
• 9 September – Stéphane Mallarmé, poet and critic
• 25 September – Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet, anthropologist
• 16 October – Jules Eugène Lenepveu, painter
• 24 October – Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter
• 17 November – Auguste-François Maunoury, Hellenist and exegete

  Full date unknown

• Jean-André Cuoq, philologist