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Dreyfus affair

  1. 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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Example Sentences

Now dying of cancer, the Dreyfus Affair jolts him self-rediscovery.

The Strauss-Kahn affair is obviously unrelated to the Dreyfus affair.

It is a worldview that takes its name from the French nationalist writer, contemporary of the Dreyfus Affair, Maurice Barrès.

Among the circumstances which contributed to the continuance of the anti-Christian spirit must be reckoned the Dreyfus affair.

Socialism, also, found in the Dreyfus affair, a pretext for the solidification of its forces.

The Dreyfus affair broke, and set the very foundations of France quivering.

We have a recent and very striking instance of this kind in the origin and evolution of the notorious Dreyfus affair.

Their influence in the land, according to the anti-clericals, had been proved by the Dreyfus affair to be excessive.

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