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Its Causes, and its Implications
by
Matthew Baltz
January 25, 1999

Link here to the original paper http://www.harwich.edu/depts/history/HHJ/drey.html

INTRODUCTION

The Dreyfus Affair began with an unjust conviction of treason in 1894 that would not be rectified for another twelve years. The goal of this paper is to determine what caused the Dreyfus Affair, and what aspects of French society and politics, just before the turn of the 20th century, allowed it to escalate. Important influences include the origins of the Third Republic, the nature of the conservative Right, the Army and General Staff, the characteristics of Alfred Dreyfus, a nationalistic and anti-Semitic revival, an overactive and partisan press, a continually stratified Parliament, and unresolved issues still pervasive in France around justice, and national strength.

One very important affect on the Affair was the nature and origins of the Third Republic. The government began with a manifestly conservative influence, but elections and damaging episodes for the right-wing eventually brought about a Republican dominance. This shift of power and obvious resentment between right and left allowed the Dreyfus Affair to become a tool for politicians on both sides, to discredit one another. Another aspect of the Third Republic, especially between 1893 and 1899, was the many Ministries and Presidents in control during a very crucial time for France. The fact that there were eight Ministries and four Presidents in this period caused short-sighted policies and a lack of long-range goals.

The conservative Right would also play an important role in the Dreyfus Affair, because they consolidated against the call for revision of the original 1894 trial. They had already been discredited by the Sixteenth of May Affair and the Boulanger episode, and the Republic’s anticlerical policies added further to their hostility and defensiveness. Once the Affair began to escalate, the Right, for the most part, continued its association with the Army, nationalism, anti-Semitism, and Catholicism. Eventually, the Dreyfus Affair would serve to discredit, at the very least, the Army, the Church, and anti-Semitism, and there would be an especially blatant shift of power to the left.

The nature of the Army and the General Staff contributed to the initial, corrupt, 1894 trial, and would be an effective impediment, at least for a time, to the cause of revision. Since the Army, and most especially the General Staff, was composed predominately of conservative, Catholic, individuals, and anti-Semitism was a pervasive, if not institutionalized characteristic, it was not surprising that the lone Jewish General Staff officer was suspected of treason. After the 1894 trial, the members of the General Staff nourished the evidence against Dreyfus with unrelated, and even forged documents, prevented the true traitor from being brought to justice, and attempted to destroy the one man who sought to repair the damage of the original conviction.

Several factors contributed to Dreyfus’s original arrest and conviction. Most obviously, he was the only Jew on the General Staff, and compounded with that, he did not share much in common with his fellow officers. He had not attended St. Cyr as most others had, and his intelligence was often misconstrued as pompous. In addition, many of his peers and superiors were threatened, to a degree, by him. Although he was an ardent French patriot, the fact that he was born in Alsace and spoke fluent German caused many to question his allegiances. All of this, combined with unfounded accusations on Dreyfus’s moral character, led to his immediate conviction

One of the reasons why the Dreyfus Affair became so divisive and passionate, was because of a marked increase in nationalism, an unprecedented love of, and interest in, the Army, and an anti-Semitic revival. The defeat of 1870-1871 to the Prussians unleashed much of this sentiment, and since much of the population became obsessed with revenge, the Army took on an unusually important role. "Spy fever" pervaded much of the popular culture, as well as a fear of any foreign element which may make the country weaker. For this reason, Jews were often chastised as French pretenders, and were often associated with the wealthy and influential Rothschilds. In addition, there was an increase of Jewish immigrants from eastern European countries to France, who epitomized what anti-Semites, and even progressive Jews, disliked of the Jewish population.

Much of the Dreyfus Affair was about public opinion, and no other entity had a greater influence on it then the press. Politicians, especially in the latter years of the 19th century, would also be influenced by what was written in the papers. The anti-Semitic paper, La Libre Parole played a very important role in the 1894 conviction, and attempts to stifle revision and further condemn Dreyfus would continue to come from the press. As questions about the Affair arose, the press would similarly become an effective tool to gain support and awareness for the reopening of the case, as shown with the sensation caused by Emile Zola’s "J’Accuse" article.

The progression of the Dreyfus Affair was also affected social influence. The 1894 trial was only about a Jew, that almost everyone believed was guilty. Nationalism and anti-Semitism would be ideas effective in keeping the Affair closely related to French passions. However, as time went on, the Dreyfus Affair began to take on new dimensions, including the rights of an individual in the Republic, the legality of closed court sessions, and whether or not a judicial error could, or should, be revised. These issues were what politicians, and the people at large could rally behind.

All of these elements contributed to the Dreyfus Affair at a certain time, and to a certain extent. Historians to this day disagree about what was behind this divisive episode, but most do agree that it had immense implications upon the French people.


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