Alfred Dreyfus was a French army officer, born October 19, 1859 in Mulhouse, France. He was the son of a wealthy Jewish textile manufacturer.
Dreyfus was educated at the École Polytechnique and later began a military career during which he successfully rose to the rank of captain in 1889.
While assigned to the War Ministry in 1894, Dreyfus was accused of selling military secrets to the Germans. He was arrested on October 15, convicted on December 15 and sentenced to life imprisonment on the infamous penal colony, Devil’s Island. The legal proceedings were based on insufficient evidence, but public opinion and the French Press, largely anti-semitic at the time, regarded the verdict as an example of the supposed disloyalty of French Jews.
The Dreyfus affair split France in two between conservative and progressive forces. Conservative forces, nationalistic and authoritarian, argued that the case involved national security while progressive forces viewed the affair as a symbol for the disregard of justice and human rights in the French republic. On January 13, 1898, the novelist Émile Zola wrote an open letter published on the front page of L’Aurore under the headline, “J’Accuse” in which he accused the army of covering up its mistaken conviction of Dreyfus.
Nationalists then pressed to have Zola arrested. The trial of Zola began on February 7, 1898. Zola was found guilty of libel and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and fined 3,000 francs.
Zola fled France for London and returned when Dreyfus’ conviction was overturned.
More trials followed, but it was not until 1899 - and the fall of the government - that Alfred Dreyfus was finally declared completely innocent of the charges. Alfred Dreyfus rejoined the French Army in 1906 and was recalled to active service during World War I as a lieutenant colonel.
Alfred Dreyfus died July 12, 1935 in Paris.
Excerpted from "Dreyfus, Alfred." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 3 May 2008 http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9031197.