Was the Dreyfus affair a victory or a defeat for the Third Republic?

Résumé du document

In the late 19th century, France was affected by an affair which changed its history: the Dreyfus affair. Dreyfus was a captain in French army who was suspected of betraying military secrets. From an Alsatian Jewish background, he was accused of being a traitor and was jailed without real proof. Captain Dreyfus was not actually guilty, but many reasons led authorities not to free him: firstly, he was Jewish and secondly, it would mean that the army had made a mistake. Despite evidences to show his innocence and suggesting that another officer (Esterhazy) was the culprit, his case was not reopened. After four years, in 1898, an event had a fundamental impact: the French writer Emile Zola wrote “J'accuse” in the French newspapers L'Aurore.

This was the beginning of a ‘war' which divided France into two for many years: those who defended Dreyfus and those who stood against him… This affair had huge impacts on French society and politics because this affair transcended the fate of a man and split the entire society. It is important to put this case back in its context, that is a rise of nationalism due to the Boulanger crisis a few years before. At the same time, on a political level, the extreme left was also rising and this generated fear among the bourgeois who felt threatened.

Extraits

[...] * * * To conclude, we can clearly assert that the Dreyfus affair is victory of the Republic”, as the former French President J. Chirac stated it in a famous speech delivered in 2006[16]. Although it divided France, the Dreyfus affair then contributed to the unity of the Nation. The Dreyfus affair was a turning point in French history: the Republic emerged strengthened despite all the challenges it had to face, in particular the rise of nationalism and anti-Semitism. Both institutional foundations and republicans values were threatened but the victory was political, moral and eventually juridical (only in 1906). [...]

[...] (2009), La Fièvre Hexagonale, Editions Points, Paris, pp. 151-152. Ibid, pp. 152-153 Cahm, E. (1996), The Dreyfus Affair in French Society and Politics, Longman, London, p Johnson, D. (1966), France and the Dreyfus Affair, Blandford Press, London, p Alexander, M. S. (1999), French History since Napoleon, Arnold, London, Ch Jewish question”. Alexander, M. S. (1999), French History since Napoleon, Arnold, London, Ch Jewish question”. Bordier, J. [...]

[...] Was the Dreyfus affair a victory or a defeat for the Third Republic? In the late 19th century, France was affected by an affair which changed its history: the Dreyfus affair. Dreyfus was a captain in French army who was suspected of betraying military secrets. From an Alsatian Jewish background, he was accused of being a traitor and was jailed without real proof. Captain Dreyfus was not actually guilty, but many reasons led authorities not to free him: firstly, he was Jewish and secondly, it would mean that the army had made a mistake. [...]

[...] As we saw, prior to the famous “J'accuse” written by Zola (January 1898) and prior to the fall of Méline (June 1898), the right wing was rallied to the republican government. However, as the affair transcended the fate of Dreyfus himself, France began to bipolarise. The left republicans and socialists, led by Jaurès, joined the drefysusard camp. In the general elections of May 1898, the opportunist moderate majority was returned and Méline falls. He was replaced by Brison (radical), another anti-dreyfusard. [...]

[...] S. (1999), French History since Napoleon, Arnold, London. - Bordier, J. (2006), La victoire de la République in L'Express. Available at: http://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/politique/la-victoire-de- la-republique_459216.html - Cahm, E. (1996), The Dreyfus Affair in French Society and Politics, Longman, London. - Johnson, D. (1966), France and the Dreyfus Affair, Blandford Press, London. - Mayeur J-M. and Rebérioux M. (1984), The Third Republic from its Origins to the Great War, translated by Foster J. R., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. [...]