J'accuse

The Franco Prussian war, otherwise known as the conflict between the Second French empire and the Kingdom of Prussia began in 1871.
The growing power and influence of Prussia under the control of Bismark was an attempt to unify Germany. At the time France was ruled by Napoleon who got tricked into going to war with Prussia. Unfortunately for Napoleon he had no allies.

Napoleon was defeated and captured at Sedan leading to a great humiliation for France. The people of Paris then declared the third republic sledge by the Germans/Prussians leading to the declaration of the German Empire at Versailles.
They were defeated, resulting in France having a huge indemnity to pay as well as losing two vital capitals; Alsace and Lorraine, two wealthy and political promises to France which were then taken by Germany.

The two million residents in Paris were trying to prolong the resistance against the Prussians but were soon surrounded by German forces. Problems soon arose as there was not enough food to provide for everyone so people began to slaughter horses and there was even a rumour that people broke into the zoo to kill the animals and were prepared to eat them. The French attempted to send messages to Germany via pigeon however the Germans prevented this by bringing in hawks that would prey on the pigeons and eventually kill them.

In the end the Provincial French Government had to sign an armistice however there was still a very heavy peace between France and Germany. As a consequence France lost Alsace and Lorraine and had to pay yet another large sum of money to Germany.

The Paris Commune and landlords returned to Paris demanding rent and interest. A new national government had a majority of royalists and there was a fear of a restoration for the Monarchy.
The Commune was created on the 18th of March and lasted until May 28th in 1871. Lenin referred to it as "the festival of the oppressed".
The Commune was a mixture of moderate socialists, far left activists, anarchists and Jacobins as well as having a strong female influence when regarding political decisions. Marx celebrated it as the "dictatorship of the Proletariat".
The Commune introduced social reforms such as the setting up of nurseries so women could go to work as well as improving working conditions and establishing the right for workers to take over and run businesses. This also helped to separate the Church and the State as well as introduce a female suffrage.
The Commune was ruthlessly destroyed leading to the execution of 20-30 thousand French civilians concentrated in the working class areas of Paris. Women were shot in their hundreds because of their reputation for leading the Commune. "Everyone was guilty in Paris" - The Commune was short lived but had a huge impact on European politics.

The Dreyfuss Affair.

The defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war was still casting a long shadow up until the year of 1984. The year of Dreyfuss's conviction.

The French re-established themselves through the building of overseas empires in Asia and Africa however they were still concerned about anything that might threaten their sense of French greatness. There was a sense of fragility and paranoia that led to them attempting to blame their defeat on others such as the Jews. They had a belief that there was a secret Jewish syndicate working to undermine France.
The Panama Canal Scandal was made up of bribes to politicians to stay quiet about the companies financial problems.
France was very militaristic. The Army was seen as a symbol of French identity however they were worried about another war with Germany. This led to a big increase in spying across all European countries.

The Dreyfuss affair began with evidence of secret French military information being found in a waste-paper basket in the German Embassy. The Army immediately implicated Captain Dreyfuss.
Why Dreyfuss? He was bright, intelligent, and from Alsace as well as being a Jew. However he was innocent.

The Army held this secret court material and sentenced him guilty of treason. Dreyfuss was stripped of his military rank and sent to Devils Island in 1894. Later on an officer looked into the case and found that the evidence was completely wrong. He discovered the real culprit, an officer called Esterhazy however his superior dismissed this evidence.
EsterHazy was put on trial in a military court resulting in him being acquitted. A famous French journalist and write Emile Zola was so enraged he became involved in the case and wrote the famous article J'accuse.
Zola was tried and convicted of libel, leading to him being fined and sentenced to prison. He fled to London whilst Anti-Jewish riots broke out over France as right-wing papers called for Jews to lose their citizenship.
As this was all occurring the Army recognised the weakness of the case, thus leading them to forge more documents to strengthen the evidence. This was carried out by an Officer called Henry who was later praised for his "patriotic forgery". He was trialled and sentenced to imprisonment where he slit his throat and was later seen as a hero - a martyr to the Jewish syndicate.

There was a change in the government who decided to bring Dreyfuss back from his island, a broken man and trialled him again. He was found guilty with "extenuating circumstances".
After Dreyfuss was freed he fought in WW1, Acti en Francoise with a final irony that his granddaughter died in the death camp of Auschwitz.