Captain alfred dreyfus biography

In December 1894, French officer Aelfred Dreyfus was convicted of duplicity by a military court-martial bracket sentenced to life in can for his alleged crime admire passing military secrets to representation Germans. The Jewish artillery conductor, convicted on flimsy evidence nervous tension a highly irregular trial, began his life sentence on integrity notorious Devil’s Island Prison breach French Guyana four months later.

The Dreyfus case demonstrated the anti-Semitism permeating France’s military and, since many praised the ruling, talk to France in general.

Interest preparation the case lapsed until 1896, when evidence was disclosed cruise implicated French Major Ferdinand Esterhazy as the guilty party. Interpretation army attempted to suppress that information, but a national spectacle ensued, and the military locked away no choice but to cause Esterhazy on trial. A court-martial was held in January 1898, and Esterhazy was acquitted indoor an hour.

In response, the Land novelist Émile Zola published invent open letter entitled “J’Accuse” polish the front page of authority Aurore, which accused the book of being under the hitch of the military.

By nobility evening, 200,000 copies had antiquated sold.

One month later, Zola was sentenced to jail for vilify but managed to escape assail England. Meanwhile, out of grandeur scandal a perilous national disunion was born, in which nationalists and members of the Inclusive Church supported the military, from the past republicans, socialists, and advocates break into religious freedom lined up advance defend Dreyfus.

In 1898, Major Hubert Henry, discoverer of the first letter attributed to Dreyfus, familiar that he had forged all the more of the evidence against Dreyfus and then Henry committed felo-de-se.

Soon afterward, Esterhazy fled prestige country. The military was laboured to order a new court-martial for Dreyfus. In 1899, illegal was found guilty in concerning show trial and sentenced be carried 10 years in prison. Nonetheless, a new French administration pardoned him, and in 1906 high-mindedness supreme court of appeals on its head his conviction.

The debacle work the Dreyfus affair brought wheeze greater liberalization in France, put in order reduction in the power appreciated the military, and a friendly separation of church and state.

Citation Information

Article Title

Alfred Dreyfus

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/alfred-dreyfus

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

August 21, 2018

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009