1798

1798 was a year marked by ongoing global conflicts sparked by the French Revolution and its reception abroad, as well as by domestic political upheavals in several states. Military campaigns, revolutionary ideas, and constitutional changes shaped events across Europe, the Middle East, and the Atlantic world.

In Europe and the Mediterranean, Napoleon Bonaparte led a French expedition into Egypt. The campaign opened with advances along the Nile and included the Battle of the Pyramids, while the British Royal Navy achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of the Nile, leaving Napoleon's forces isolated in Egypt and reshaping French imperial prospects in the region. The voyage produced lasting scientific and scholarly work, including the Description de l'Égypte, and influenced broader European attitudes toward science and conquest.

In the British Isles and Ireland, the United Irishmen led an uprising aimed at achieving national liberty and reform. The rebellion spread across parts of Ireland, challenging British authority and provoking severe suppression by British forces during the year.

In the Americas, tensions between the United States and Revolutionary France intensified. The XYZ Affair in diplomatic exchanges contributed to the outbreak of the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval conflict that would continue into 1800. Domestically, the United States Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Naturalization Act of 1798, measures that restricted immigration and political criticism while shaping citizenship rules.

In continental Europe, French influence prompted major constitutional and political reorganizations. The Helvetic Republic was established in Switzerland as a centralized state under French auspices, and the Batavian Republic in the Netherlands adopted a liberal constitution in 1798. The year also saw the strengthening of a Second Coalition against Revolutionary France, uniting several European powers in opposition to French expansion.

Overall, 1798 reflected a widening of global conflict tied to revolutionary ideals, shifting sovereignties, and new political orders.