Dreyfus Affair

  • Dreyfus is born

  • Dreyfus moves to Paris after the annexation

  • Franco-German War

    Led to the annexation of Alsace, where Dreyfus was born
  • Period: to

    Period of political scandals

    Showed the weakness of the Republic to many who opposed it
  • 16th May Crisis

    Crippled the influence of the Royalist movement in France
  • Dreyfus enrolls in the École Polytechnique

    This was the superior school, where graduates competed with officers from the traditional Saint-Cyr
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    Dreyfus in artillery regiment

    On graduation he was assigned to the Thirty-first Artillery Regiment, which was in garrison at Le Mans. Dreyfus was subsequently transferred to a mounted artillery battery attached to the First Cavalry Division (Paris), and promoted to lieutenant in 1885. In 1889, he was made adjutant to the director of the Établissement de Bourges, a government arsenal, and promoted to captain.
  • Jewish France by Édouard Drumont published

    150,000 copies sold in the first year
  • Near-coup of Georges Boulanger

    Nationalist, royalist figure who wanted the Franco-Prussia war to be avenged. He was planning on a coup d’etat but decided against it
  • Jean Sandherr becomes head of the SS

    An anti-Semitic Alsatian who was to discover the "bordeau"
  • Period: to

    Dreyfus studies at École Supérieure de Guerre

  • Panama Scandal of 1892

    Linked to a French company's failed building attempt at constructing a Panama Canal. Close to half a billion francs were lost and members of the French government had taken bribes to keep quiet. Regarded as the largest financial scandal of the 20th century
  • Dreyfus becomes trainee at French Army's General Staff

    The only Jewish officer
  • Bordereau Discovered

    Madame Bastian who worked in the German embassy found a torn-up note which contained secrets given by a supposed Mr D.
  • Investigation in to who wrote the bordeau starts

  • The affair was revealed in an article in La Libre Parole (antisemitic newspaper)

    La Libre Parole, L'Autorité, Le Journal, and Le Temps described the supposed life of Dreyfus through lies and bad fiction
  • Court Martial

    Dreyfus’ closed December court- martial served up an array of hearsay evidence and unsubstantiated rumors that characterized him as a gambler and womanizer who frequently traveled to Alsace. His handwriting reportedly matched that of a letter liberated by Bastian from Schwartzkoppen’s trash. A telegram was faked which supposedly proved that Dreyfus was culpable
  • Dreyfus convicted of high treason

  • Period: to

    Dreyfus imprisoned on Devils Island

  • Dreyfus reconvicted in second trial

  • Dreyfus pardoned by the President