Lali Pirtskhalaava
Doctor of History
The University of Georgia
Associate Professor
Tbilisi, Georgia
Lali Pirtskhalaava
Doctor of History
The University of Georgia
Associate Professor
Tbilisi, Georgia
The Dreyfus Affair and its Influence on World History
Abstract
The Dreyfus affair was a high-profile trial that began in France in December 1894 and escalated into a ten-year social-political controversy (1896-1906). The case involved the officer of the French General Staff, Captain Alfred Dreyfus of Alsace, who was the Jewish origin and the one who was accused of espionage for the German Empire based on forged documents. Dreyfus was sentenced to permanent exile for the national benefit.
The Dreyfus affair profoundly shook the entire civilized world and the unjust convictions against him became a litmus paper for the whole society. Even though France was the first European country to grant equal rights to Jews, the Dreyfus case divided the French society into two camps - "Dreyfusards" and "anti-Dreyfusards".
Dreyfus was publicly supported by the famous writer Emile Zola, who on January 13, 1898, published an open letter "I blame" [ J'Accuse…!] on the front page of the Paris daily newspaper L'Aurore, where he defended Dreyfus and accused the court of bias. The article had such a resonance all over the world that it became impossible to suppress the facts indicated by Zola.
However, it should also be noted that Zola and many others did not necessarily come to Dreyfus's defense out of personal sympathy for Dreyfus, or even sympathy for an innocent convict as a Jew, but primarily from the principle of the supremacy of justice. Zola and other Dreyfusards perceived the act of violence against justice as an act of violence against France.
The "Dreyfus affair" was a theater of the absurd from a legal point of view, but at the same time, it fully corresponded to political logic. Dreyfus himself was simply a victim of history, a pawn in serious political games.
Progressive-minded people all over the world were shocked that such a thing could happen in the most advanced country in the world at that time - France.
There was a discussion on the Dreyfus affair going intensively in the media from all European countries. This event did not go unnoticed in Georgian society, and the contemporary, advanced Georgian press, especially Ilia "Iveria", whose pages actively covered all pressing issues, both inside the country and abroad, responded widely to the event.
The Dreyfus affair played an important role not only in the history of France and Europe but its consequences were also reflected in world history. There shouldn't be much surprise that many of his various activities have been shrouded in secrecy until today, while his case remains relevant.
Keywords: Alfred Dreyfus; antisemitism; Colonel Picquart; Major Esterhazy; Émile Zola; Theodor Herzl; Zionism; the „Dreyfusards“ and the „anti-Dreyfusards“.