At the end of 1894, French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a graduate of the École Polytechnique and a Jew of Alsatian origin, was accused of handing secret documents to the … See more

Discovery of the "bordereau"
The staff of the Military Intelligence Service (SR) worked around the clock to spy on the German Embassy in Paris. They had managed to get a French housekeeper named "Madame Bastian" hired to work in the … See more

The Dreyfus family exposes the affair and takes action
Mathieu Dreyfus, the elder brother of Alfred, was convinced of his innocence. He was the chief architect of the rehabilitation of his brother and spent his time, energy and … See more

Preferring to avoid a third trial the government decided to pardon Dreyfus by a decree signed by President Émile Loubet on 19 September 1899 after much hesitation. Dreyfus … See more

Political
In 1894, the Third Republic was twenty-four years old. Although the 16 May Crisis in 1877 had crippled the political influence of both the Bourbon and Orléanist royalists, its ministries continued to be short-lived as the country … See more

The Dreyfus affair becomes "The Affair"
On 13 January 1898, Émile Zola touched off a new dimension in the Dreyfus affair, which became … See more

Conduct of the trial
Alfred Dreyfus was in no way aware of what was happening thousands of kilometres from him. … See more