The Dreyfus affair was the result of many unfortunate circumstances, not the planned premeditated intervention of the French Army. It was the outcome of reasonable suspicion, acted on by contempt, some circumstantial evidence, and instinctive prejudice. However, the intentional army coverup, and shady courtroom procedures, were responsible for suppressing important evidence and keeping an important French Army officer incarcerated in hellish conditions.

Alfred Dreyfus was born into a wealthy Jewish family on October 9, 1859 in the town of Mulhouse located in the province of Alsace, under French rule. However the Dreyfus family moved after the Franco-Prussian War in order to remain French citizens. Dreyfus choose a Military Career, and entered the E cole Polytechnique in 1878. As a young officer, Dreyfus was competent and hardworking, although not brilliant or popular. In 1889, Dreyfus attained the rank of artillery captain, and was assigned as a trainee to the general staff.

On July 20, 1894, a French officer, Marie Charles Ferdinand Walstin-Esterhazy, offers

The 1890's was a period of widespread and hostile anti-Semitism in France. Hatred toward the Jews was financed by Royalists, Nationalists, Jesuits, and Catholic officials running deep into the most respectable districts. France was still suffering from her defeat by the Germans in 1870, in which Alsace and Lorraine was lost. In 1892, the Panama Canal Scandal broke which revealed that 104 deputies were involved in the taking of illegal bribes, causing the company to go bankrupt. Several of the leading players involved in the scandal were Jewish bankers, and French resentment towards the Jews increased when many French investors lost their money. Because of Dreyfus's religion, the French people and officers found it easier to accept his guilt as the scapegoat.

Two weeks later, Alfred Dreyfus was humiliated, by being stripped of his medals and uniform, and made to walk down a line of officers, who looked on with disgust.

Among the crowd was the Paris correspondent for the Vienna Neue Freie Presse, Theodore Herzl. He was so disturbed by the crowd that he when he returned home he wrote Der Judenstaat, an essay whose sole purpose was the "restoration of the Jewish state." Within eighteen months, Herzl organized the first Zionist Congress, made up of two hundred delegates from fifteen countries. Suddenly the Dreyfus affair took on a whole new purpose, which the Jewish people have been waiting for eighteen hundred years.

This was, supposofly, not the first evidence of French treason. Another note was found written by the Italian attache to Paris, Lieutenant Colonel Panizzardi, to Schwartzkoppen. In this letter, Panizzardi referred to an agent by "Scoundrel D." Officers frantically searched the files of officers that might have access to some of the highly classified material mentioned in the letter. They quickly came across the name of Alfred Dreyfus. This would be the second unfortunate circumstance. The coincidence that Alfred's last name started with the letter D. Dreyfus's writing samples were scrutinized by Major Marquis Du Paty de Clam who was indecisive. Major Marquis, summoned a handwriting expert from the Banque de France, who was equally uncertain. On October 15, 1894, Dreyfus was summoned by Major Du Paty to appear at headquarters, wearing civilian clothes. Major Du Paty dictated from the bordereau, and Dreyfus was order to write it down. Dreyfus did so calmly, except for some shaking due to the coldness of the autumn day. Major Du Paty became infuriated by his calmness, and believed it was a facade to conceal his guilt. Dreyfus was immediately arrested for treason, by Minister of War General Auguste Mercier. Dreyfus instinctively pronounced his innocence. Later Major Du Paty de Clam offered him a gun to commit suicide, but Dreyfus would not, saying that he would live to prove his innocence and vindicate his honor.

to sell secret French military files, to the Ger

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1966
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)