The Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906)

Maps by Omniatlas:

Sources:

Michael Burns
France and the Dreyfus Affair: A Documentary History

George R Whyte
The Dreyfus Affair: A Chronological History

0:00 UsefulCharts
0:35 Intro
1:44 The Third Republic
3:54 Édouard Drumont and La Libre Parole
11:30 The Trial of Alfred Dreyfus
15:37 “J’Accuse…!”
21:44 The Anti-Dreyfusard Downfall
25:44 Conclusion: the Long French Revolution

[SamAronow]

*Corrections:*
– Méliès' film _L'Affaire Dreyfus_ was only eleven minutes long, not feature-length. I think I got tripped up by the fact that it comprised 11 reels, but each reel was only 1 minute.
– The man in the photo labeled "Jules Gesde" is in fact Russian Revolutionary Georgi Plekhanov. I have no idea how I mixed those two up, but I did make this video while delirious with COVID.
– Again, I couldn't include every major player in this, so apologies for failing to mention Yves Guyot, Bernard Lazare, Ludovic Trarieux, Fernand Labori, Francis de Pressené, Auguste Mercier, or Major Paty du Clam.

[Artur_M.]

The saddest thing about Drumont is that the influences of his poisonous rambling can be clearly seen in prejudices prevailing around the world to this day.

[supe]

Imagine getting dragged through mud by your own countrymen then returning to fight in the most gruesome war for said country

[elh]

Interesting fact, the Tour de France was partially created due to the Dreyfus affair. One of the larger newspapers at the time was "Le Velo" which mixed their main sports coverage with politics. The editor believed that Dreyfus was innocent, frustrated with this a new sports paper was founded "Le Auto-Velo", and to promote the paper, they began the Tour de France.

Le Auto-Velo is now L'Équipe and is still in publication today.

[thefrenchkiwi]

Fun fact about Zola's *J'accuse* he initially wanted to call it *Lettre ouverte au président de la République* or *Open letter to the president of the Republic* since that's what it was, an open letter.

But Clemenceau felt that the title didn't hit hard enough and convinced Zola to change it.

[jaystrickland]

You did very good. Way before law school when I was a history major the Dreyfus affair was on of my history professors favorite discussion points. He viewed it as the point in time that France decided not to go the way Germany would in the early mid 20th century ( though it came extremely close). Only one small point of correction Dreyfus was reinstated as an Artillery Major, as it was deemed the rank he would have likely achieved but for the affair.

[jorkmorks]

It is crazy to think about the political situation in France after the Dreyfus affair. Imagine if America today had two political parties explicitly dedicated to racism, one of which was led by someone who had been claiming non-whites were a parasitic species for years. Then there was the third party which consisted of loosely connected blocs that only really got along based on the idea that racism wasn't actually good.

[therongjr]

I was listening to this while riding on the bus, and I heard "And nobody remembers this better than Francis Jews" and my first thought was, "Who is that? I've never heard of him!" 😆

[AV]

The list at 6:15: the first 4 countries all took part in the Polish partition. It’s weird how all those countries later complained about having a Jewish problem, but never seem to point out that that “problem” was self-inflicted. If they had left Poland alone, they wouldn’t have had so many Jews in their border to complain about.

[Arianod]

Not-so-fun fact: Henri Buronfosse, a chimney sweep, confessed to have taken money to sabotage Zola's chimney and cause his death by carbon monoxide poisoning.

[AncientAmericas]

I've been eagerly anticipating this one for a long time. Very well done!

[tavenstrickert]

I feel like a story of Dreyfus is so extra poignant today as we in the West are experiencing yet again another way of other antisemitism in a way I don't think most Jews thought would happen especially here in the United States where I live. The recent controversy with Kanye West has sparked such a vile dialogue that has only reminded me why my grandpa told me so long ago to not tell anyone I was Jewish because then that's all they would see. Graveyards are being defiled, political pundits are engaging with anti-Semitism again and the ex-president of the United States said that the Jews of America need to remember to be loyal to him which is an incredibly threatening sentiment. It can always happen again if we do not stay vigilant and defend democracy which in turn defends diversity we really appreciate your videos

[Fatortu]

Incredible video! I'm French so I was taught about the facts of the Dreyfus affair and the "J'accuse" article several times during my curriculum. But there always was a kind of prudishness about talking about antisemitism at school that made it hard for me to understand why it was a big deal. Quoting people like Drumont is important context even if I understand it's hard to expose student to unfiltered antisemitism.

I didn't really understand why this miscarriage of justice was particularly important when it wasn't the first or the last. I understood that it sparked a national debate at the time. But without explaining what antisemite believed, I had no sense that it had implications for all Jews in France.

[sevelofficial]

I have been binge watching your videos for weeks now. I am Jewish and have a degree in history, but never knew maybe 95% of the information shown in these videos. You do amazing work and make me feel so proud to be Jewish.

[alg]

Very good video and background on France. Dreyfus went through many trails once he was brought back from Devil's Island. Shalom Alechem has a story about the giant attorney who defended him in one of them. In Paris, they did commission a statute of Dreyfus which was moved many times due to public outcry. It now stands in the back of an obscure park that you can only find if the tour guide is Jewish.

[michaelmcintyre]

As it happens, I’m currently reading a section in Proust all about the Dreyfus affair - and suddenly all of the references make sense. Well done!

[derpasaurus_rex]

I have been waiting far too long for this video. It's finally Herzl and Zionism time!

Thank you so much Sam!

[whitecrow]

I am grateful for this. I recently watched all of "Paris Police 1900" and "Paris Police 1905" on MHz. Although I have long been a student of history, I find there is still much to learn. So, I looked for videos on the Dreyfus affair. This is excellent.

[viliussmproductions]

I'm a Lithuanian, I'm no stranger to historical antisemitism. And yet this channel is a constant stream of surprising lows in European political ethics.

The absurdities of modern politics may often fade in comparrisson to the past

[lukejohns]

This is a professionally made, excellent video! I was quite surprised to see how small your channel is, I wish you luck and will try to boost you in the algorithm