Alfred Dreyfus

Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was wrongly convicted of treason in 1894. The Dreyfus case exposed anti-Semitism in the army and generated extraordinary political and social controversy, polarizing liberal, intellectual, and progressive elements in government against the Roman Catholic Church, the army, and the conservative political establishment. The case influenced the election of a more liberal-oriented French government in 1899, and helped bring about the decline of the French military’s power and prestige, and the separation of Church and State. In 1906 Dreyfus was reinstated to the rank of major and decorated with the Légion d’Honneur.

THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE

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Anti-Semitism; Discrimination; Dreyfus Affair; Europe

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