The Dreyfus Affaire--1894 to ?
In 1894, French Army Intelligence found
out that a spy was sending sensitive information to the German spy
Swarzkoppen. The spy
was on the General Staff, had a good knowledge of artillery, and had
his name start with a “D.”
To have a spy in such a sensitive position was a great shock.
What sort of Frenchman would ever deal with the hated Germans?
Only a few men fit such a profile, but of the men
who were under suspicion eyes quickly fell on a man named Alfred Dreyfus.
Dreyfus was an officer on the General Staff, was an artillery officer, was from
German-speaking Alsace before 1871 and was a Jew.
Finally, there was a motive: The Army was a bastion of the Right and was no
friend of Jews in any way. Plus,
Dreyfus was born in Alsace, which now belonged to Germany.
Not to mention how well Jews viewed Germany you had a man in the right place,
with the right knowledge and with a solid motive.
Dreyfus was left with a gun for a few minutes after his arrest. He did not commit suicide as was
expected. The man did not even have
enough honor to kill himself.
The trial went quickly. However, there was not a great deal of
evidence other than circumstance.
Dreyfus fit, but there wasn’t enough hard evidence. However, Army Intelligence met in camera with the judges to provide
additional proof that could not be shared in the courtroom. This evidence proved damning and Dreyfus
was sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island—the living hell of the
coast of South America.
After the conviction, the Army
appointed Colonel Picquart as new chief of Army Intelligence with a special job:
to find out why Dreyfus would do it.
Dreyfus just didn’t seem to fit the profile of a spy. He did not drink,
gamble, or chase women and was almost utterly proper in his behavior.
As Picquart dug deeper he found
very little evidence of Dreyfus’s guilt. He finally found that another man,
Walsin Esterhazy was giving secrets to Scwarzkoppen! To top it off, Esterhazy’s handwriting fit that of the
initial note. Picquart reported his
findings to the army to ask them to try Esterhazy and to free Dreyfus
This was not to be. The Dreyfus Affaire, as it was now
called, had been boon to the Right.
An incompetent Republic giving secrets to the hated Germans and yet another Jew
right in the middle of it had been too good for the Right. The Dreyfus Affaire could finally finish
the Republic. Now, to admit that
the Army had made a mistake would end all that. The Army, and the Right, would
be disgraced. Already, many top
Radicals, such as Clemenceau, were saying that the Army had made a mistake. The Radicals had always hated the Army
for being a hotbed of Catholics and Royalists.
No, to admit a mistake would be a disaster. Picquart was ordered to shut up about the whole thing.
But Picquart was unwilling to do
so. He really disliked Jews himself
and, in particular, had never liked Dreyfus when the “traitor” was Picquart’s
student. He did not see that much of a problem in admitting a
mistake. What bothered him, was
that Esterhazy was going to keep on spying.
And the Army was going to allow it!
Picquart finally got his way and
Esterhazy was put on trial and acquitted.
Dreyfus was the real spy. However, Picquart was put in jail for
slandering a brother officer and Dreyfus would stay where he was.
The farcical nature was not lost on
Clemenceau who had been out of power since the Panama Affaire. Clemenceau allowed Emile Zola, most
popular writer in France, to publish in Clemenceau’s paper his famous, “J’Accuse!”
article. The article noted the
incompetence of the Army. Zola
named names and laid out the entire mess.
He was then put on trial and condemned for libel.
Zola skipped over to England, but Dreyfus and Picquart rotted in jail.
France was more horribly divided
than ever. Invitations for parties
stipulated that attendees should be either Dreyfusard, or anti-Dreyfusard. Talk of coups d’etat filled the air. The Right was anti-Dreyfusard and they
hoped to protect the Army and the Church.
Whichever side lost was going to pay dearly. And things hadn’t yet got exciting.
In 1898, Major Henry of Army
Intelligence admitted that had had forged evidence against Dreyfus. Now the lid was off. A new trial was ordered for Dreyfus and
Picquart was set free. However, the
new trial for Dreyfus only got stranger: Dreyfus was convicted again, but with,
“extenuating circumstances.” This
could not stand, and the President Loubet offered Dreyfus a pardon. Dreyfus accepted to the open disgust of
Picquart and the Left. They wanted
him to refuse the pardon and insist on innocence—even if that meant going back
to Devil’s Island and death. Thus
ended the case.
But it was not really over. The fight had long since stopped being about Dreyfus. In fact, Dreyfus himself would have convicted himself to save the Army. The fight was about the Republic itself. The Army and the Church had never been a “loyal opposition.” With almost every scandal or mistake, Generals and Priests had has sprung up to try to destroy the Republic. But, the Generals and Priests had lost. Now they were going to pay. And pay dearly.