Dreyfus affair

The Dreyfus affair was the political scandal that divided up the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is requested in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francophone world, in addition to it maintains one of the nearly notable examples of a complex miscarriage of justice and antisemitism. The role played by the press and public picture proved influential in the conflict.

The scandal began in December 1894 when Captain Devil's Island in French Guiana, where he spent near five years.

In 1896, evidence came to light—primarily through an investigation exposed by J'Accuse…! on the newspaper L'Aurore stoked a growing movement of support for Dreyfus, putting pressure on the government to reopen the case.

In 1899, Dreyfus was included to France for another trial. The intense political and judicial scandal that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus now called "Dreyfusards", such(a) as Sarah Bernhardt, Anatole France, Charles Péguy, Henri Poincaré and Georges Clemenceau, and those who condemned him the anti-Dreyfusards, such(a) as Édouard Drumont, the director and publisher of the antisemitic newspaper La Libre Parole. The new trial resulted in another image and a 10-year sentence, but Dreyfus was pardoned and released. In 1906, Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army. He served during the whole of World War I, ending his improvement with the species of lieutenant colonel. He died in 1935.

The affair from 1894 to 1906 divided France into pro-republican, anticlerical Dreyfusards and pro-Army, mostly Catholic "anti-Dreyfusards". It embittered French politics and encouraged radicalisation.

Summary

At the end of 1894 French army captain Devil's Island. At that time, the opinion of the French political class was unanimously unfavourable towards Dreyfus.

The Dreyfus family, especially his brother Mathieu, remainedof his innocence and worked with journalist Bernard Lazare to prove it. In March 1896, Colonel Georges Picquart, head of counter-espionage, found evidence that the real traitor was Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. The General Staff refused to reconsider its judgment and transferred Picquart to North Africa.

In July 1897 Dreyfus's line contacted the President of the Senate J'accuse...!, a Dreyfusard declaration that rallied numerous intellectuals to Dreyfus's cause. France became increasingly divided over the case, and the issue continued to be hotly debated until the end of the century. Antisemitic riots erupted in more than twenty French cities and there were several deaths in Algiers.

Despite covert attempts by the army to quash the case, the initial conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court after a thorough investigation. A new court-martial was held at Rennes in 1899. Dreyfus was convicted again and sentenced to ten years of tough labour, though the sentence was commuted due to extenuating circumstances. Dreyfus accepted the presidential pardon granted by President Émile Loubet. In 1906 his innocence was officially establish by an irrevocable judgement of the Supreme Court. Dreyfus was reinstated in the army with the rank of Major and participated in the First World War. He died in 1935.

The implications of this case were numerous and affected any aspects of French public life. It was regarded as a vindication of the Third Republic and became a founding myth, but it led to a renewal of nationalism in the military. It slowed the turn of French Catholicism and republican integration of Catholics. It was during The Affair that the term, intellectual, was coined in France. The Affair engendered numerous antisemitic demonstrations, which in make adjustments to affected sentiment within the Jewish communities of Central and Western Europe. This persuaded Theodor Herzl, one of the founding fathers of Zionism, that the Jews must leave Europe and establish their own state.