Dreyfus affair

A scandal in France at the end of the nineteenth century involving a Jewish army officer, Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was falsely convicted of betraying French military secrets and was sentenced to life imprisonment. French society was deeply divided over Dreyfus, with liberals , including Émile Zola and Georges Clemenceau , arguing that he was innocent, and conservatives defending the French military authorities. Dislike of Jews (see also Jews ) also affected the opinions of many in France about the incident. Zola's article “ J'accuse ” (“I accuse”) strongly influenced the public in Dreyfus's favor. Dreyfus was eventually cleared of all charges, reinstated in the army with a promotion, and publicly honored.

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Media exposés of incompetent and dishonest military commanders like Gen. William Westmoreland became, for conservatives, a kind of Dreyfus affair: a patriotic officer persecuted by the liberal establishment intent on glorifying the communists while dragging an honorable soldier’s reputation through the mud.

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France was still haunted by the Dreyfus affair—the idea of the enemy within.

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But the Dreyfus affair revealed a real danger hidden by the word science.

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He’d always been stubborn—that was clear from the Dreyfus affair—but now he was becoming a caricature of himself.

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In the decadence of La Belle Époque, Jews were admitted to the great salons, until the Dreyfus affair.

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Dreyfus Dreyfusard

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