The Dreyfus Affair Honour and Politics in the Belle Époque

A history of the Dreyfus Affair, focusing mainly on the period from the case of the "bordereau" and the trial in 1894 to the Rennes trial in 1899. The Affair, which shook the whole of France and tore apart its society, began with a mistake, but continued as a chain of illegalities and falsifications. Dreyfus' Jewishness was not the only reason why he was chosen to be the traitor, but it also played a role in a country where antisemitism and race consciousness reached alarming proportions. Stresses the complexity of the Affair; not all the anti-Dreyfusards were antisemitic extremists, and many details of the case remain mysterious up to the present. For all sides, the Affair became a litmus test of patriotism or republicanism, of rationality or morality. Discusses the crucial role of Mathieu Dreyfus and Zola, and also of Henry's forgery, in the rehabilitation of Alfred Dreyfus. The Affair marginalized, but also racialized, antisemitism in France; on the other hand, it definitively established the Republic.