1898 · Zola publishes “J'accuse…!”
Zola's open letter on the Dreyfus affair fills the front page of L'Aurore. Clemenceau, who wrote for the paper, gave it its headline.
France · 1890–1900
Paris, 1890s
Electric light, cabarets, and a trial that tears France in two.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892–951898
Who governs:
1890Drag to move through the moment1900
In 1898, Paul Cézanne is 59 years old and Charles de Gaulle is 8 years old.
The world around · Paris, 1890s
- Who governs
- The Republic lives through scandal after scandal: Panama in 1892, then the Dreyfus affair.
- Everyday life
- Electric light, the bicycle craze and, from 1898, the digging of the first metro line change city life.
- Arts and ideas
- Montmartre cabarets, Toulouse-Lautrec's posters, and in 1895 the Lumière brothers' first film screenings.
- Meanwhile
- Britain is at the height of Queen Victoria's empire, and Japan has just defeated China in 1895.
Politics and power2 here in 1898
Arts and ideas8 here in 1898
Everyday life1 here in 1898
Documented in this moment
1898 · Polonium and radium
Marie and Pierre Curie announce two new radioactive elements: polonium, named after her native Poland, and radium.
