The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France for over a decade. In 1894 Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer, was convicted of passing military secrets to Germany and sent to the penal colony on Devil's Island, on evidence that was weak and partly forged. Later, evidence emerged that the real traitor was Major Ferdinand Esterhazy, but the army hid it. In 1898 Emile Zola published his open letter J'accuse, and the country split between Dreyfusards and anti-Dreyfusards, exposing deep antisemitism. Dreyfus was pardoned in 1899 and fully exonerated in 1906, and the affair shaped the separation of church and state.
Before and after
- 28 September 1893Founding of FC Porto
- 20 October 1893Birth of Jomo Kenyatta
- 25 October 1893Death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- 26 December 1893Birth of Mao Zedong
- from 1894 to 1906Dreyfus affair
- 1894Publication of The Jungle Book
- from 1894 to 1897Hamidian massacres
- 1 January 1894Birth of Satyendra Nath Bose
- 1894Launch of Billboard
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 18 June 1812 to 18 February 1815War of 1812
- from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
- from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871Franco-Prussian War
- from 1885 to 1914Scramble for Africa
- from 25 April 1898 to 11 August 1898Spanish–American War
- from 8 February 1904 to 5 September 1905Russo-Japanese War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.