06/06/2026
The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal which took place between 1894 and 1906. The Affair is an example of the growing antisemitism across Europe in the modern period.
In 1894, a document offering military secrets to the Germans was found in a bin and sent to the French Secret Service. This document was known as the ‘Bordereau’.
The investigation focused around Alfred Dreyfus, an officer in the French artillery who was of Jewish descent. Dreyfus was a suspect for three reasons:
He was in the artillery (which was what the secrets had been about)
He was an officer (so he would have access to this information)
He was a Jew
Despite a lack of evidence, Dreyfus was arrested in October 1894 and found guilty in December of the same year.
Whilst his family claimed his innocence throughout, Dreyfus’ situation only changed when Georges Picquart was appointed as Head of the Information Service in 1895. Picquart soon discovered that Commandant Esterhazy was the true culprit, not Dreyfus.
A new trial was started, with huge press coverage for both sides. The media was fueled by new publications such as Emile Zola’s open letter in support of Dreyfus, J’accuse, to the then President, M. Felix Faure. This letter condemned the judicial error and those responsible.
Uproar followed the publication of J’accuse. Opposition to Zola claimed that supporting Dreyfus was an attack on the state, and in turn, the nation. This position ran in line with the rising nationalist feelings at the time.
In the second trial of Dreyfus he was convicted again of the crime, and sentenced to ten years, but given amnesty by the French government. The supreme court finally annulled Dreyfus’ sentence and reinstated him in the army in 1906.
The Dreyfus Affair shows that despite the emancipation and equality of the Jews following the Enlightenment, antisemitism still continued.
The Affair divided the nation’s opinion, questioning the very morals of the Republic’s existence. It left a deep and lasting legacy in France.
