Editing Alfred Dreyfus (section)

==The Dreyfus affair==
{{Main|Dreyfus affair}}
{{DreyfusAffair}}
A torn-up handwritten note, referred to throughout the affair as the ''bordereau'', was found by a French housekeeper, a woman named Marie Bastian, in a wastebasket at the German Embassy. Bastian, whose job was to burn the waste of [[Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen]], instead sent it to [[Hubert-Joseph Henry]] for potential interest to French intelligence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dreyfus Affair Court-Martial (1894) |url=https://www.famous-trials.com/dreyfus |access-date=2023-08-07 |website=www.famous-trials.com |archive-date=7 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807210028/https://www.famous-trials.com/dreyfus |url-status=live }}</ref> The bordereau described a minor French military secret, and had obviously been written by a spy in the French military.

In 1894, this made the French Army's counter-intelligence section, led by Lieutenant Colonel [[Jean Sandherr]], aware that information regarding new artillery parts was being passed to [[Maximilian von Schwartzkoppen]], the German military attaché in Paris, by a highly placed spy most likely on the General Staff. Suspicion quickly fell upon Dreyfus, who was arrested for [[treason]] on 15 October 1894. 

On 5 January 1895, Dreyfus was summarily convicted in a secret court martial, [[cashiering|publicly stripped]] of his army rank, and sentenced to [[life imprisonment]] on [[Devil's Island]] in [[French Guiana]]. Following French military custom of the time, Dreyfus was formally degraded ([[Cashiering|cashiered]]) by having the rank insignia, buttons and braid cut from his uniform and his sword broken, all in the courtyard of the [[École militaire|École Militaire]] before silent ranks of soldiers, while a large crowd of onlookers shouted abuse from behind railings. Dreyfus cried out: "I swear that I am innocent. I remain worthy of serving in the Army. Long live France! Long live the Army!"<ref name=PRead/>{{rp|113}}

In August 1896, the new chief of French military intelligence, Lieutenant Colonel [[Georges Picquart]], reported to his superiors that he had found evidence to the effect that the real traitor was the Major [[Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy]]. Picquart was silenced by being transferred to command a [[tirailleur]] regiment based in [[Sousse]], Tunisia, in November 1896. When reports of an army cover-up and Dreyfus' possible innocence were leaked to the press, a heated debate ensued about [[antisemitism]] and France's identity as a Catholic nation or a republic founded on equal rights for all citizens. 

Esterhazy was found not guilty by a secret court martial, before fleeing secretly to England and shaving off his moustache. [[Rachel Beer]], editor of ''[[The Observer]]'' and the ''[[Sunday Times]]'', interviewed him twice. He confessed to writing the bordereau under orders from Sandherr in an attempt to frame Dreyfus. She wrote about her interviews in September 1898,<ref>Beer, Rachel. "Light Upon the Dreyfus Case. Major Esterhazy in London." (18 September), "The Esterhazy Revelations." (25 September). ''The Observer'', 1898.</ref> reporting his confession and writing a [[Editorial|leader column]] accusing the French military of antisemitism and calling for a retrial for Dreyfus.<ref name=observer>{{Cite news|title=Rachel Beer, editor of the Observer 1891–1901|last=Narewska|first=Elli|work=The Guardian|date=2 March 2018|url=https://www.theguardian.com/gnmeducationcentre/2018/mar/02/rachel-beer-editor-of-the-observer-archive}}</ref>

In France there was a passionate campaign by Dreyfus' supporters, including leading artists and intellectuals such as [[Émile Zola]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Summary of Emile Zola's J'Accuse, and its Repercussions. Dreyfus Letter to Zola's Widow, 1910|url=http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?alfred-dreyfus-commemorates-emile-zola-1910|work=SMF Primary Sources|publisher=Shapell Manuscript Foundation|access-date=29 January 2017|archive-date=23 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223205259/http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?alfred-dreyfus-commemorates-emile-zola-1910|url-status=dead}}</ref> following which he was given a second trial in 1899, but again declared guilty of treason despite the evidence of his innocence.

However, due to public opinion, Dreyfus was offered and accepted a pardon by President [[Émile Loubet]] in 1899 and released from prison; this was a compromise that saved face for the military's mistake. Had Dreyfus refused the pardon, he would have been returned to Devil's Island, a fate he could no longer emotionally cope with; so officially Dreyfus remained a traitor to France, and pointedly remarked upon his release:
{{quote|The government of the Republic has given me back my freedom. It is nothing for me without my honour.<ref name="YuMuseum"/>}}
For two years, until July 1906, he lived in a state of house arrest with one of his sisters at [[Carpentras, France|Carpentras]], and later at [[Cologny]].

On 12 July 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The day after his exoneration, he was readmitted into the army with a promotion to the rank of major (''Chef d'Escadron''). A week later, he was made Knight of the [[Légion d'honneur|Legion of Honour]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Minutes of the induction of Dreyfus into the Legion of Honour, French Ministry of Culture and Communication|url=http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/the-aftermath-of-the-affair/from-eyewitnesses-to-historians/media-90-Minutes_of_the_induction_of_Dreyfus_into_the_Legion_of_Honour.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512173352/http://www.dreyfus.culture.fr/en/the-aftermath-of-the-affair/from-eyewitnesses-to-historians/media-90-Minutes_of_the_induction_of_Dreyfus_into_the_Legion_of_Honour.htm|archivedate=12 May 2011|website=dreyfus.cultur.fr|publisher=|date=|access-date=}}</ref> and subsequently assigned to command an artillery unit at [[Vincennes, France|Vincennes]]. On 15 October 1906, he was placed in command of another artillery unit at [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]].