Franco Prussian War (19th century France) was a growing power and influence of Prussia under Birsmarck where they attempted to unify Germany. France was ruled by Napolean ||| where France were suckered into a war with Prussia without any allies. 1871 was when Napolean was defeated and captured which was a great humiliation for France. Paris declared the Third Republic sledge of Paris by the Germans/ Prussians (German Empire declared at Versailles in 1871)
They were defeated and France paid for this in a big way. Alsace and Lorraine (industrial centuries of France) were given up which was a big thing for France as they were wealthy and politically important promises to France. They also had to pay out a lot of money to Germany to say sorry for starting a war. There were 2 million people in Paris surrounded by German forces. The problem was they they couldn't afford to feed everyone which meant people were slaughtering horses to eat. There was even a story of people breaking into a zoo and killing all of the animals to eat them! They attempted to send messages to Germany via balloons however this didn't work so they moved onto pigeons. The Germans prevented this however by getting hawks which killed the pigeons and stopped the messages being received.
The Provisional French Government signed an armistice but there was still a very heavy peace between the two. They lost Alsace and Lorraine and had to pay yet another large amount of money to Germany.
The Paris commune and landlords returned to Paris and demanded rent and interest. A new national government had a majority of royalists and there was a fear of restoration of the monarchy. A commune was created on the 18th March to May 28th 1871 by women which was known as 'festival of oppressed'. This had a strong influence in policy decisions of commune (a in the French Revolution). There was a strange mix of moderate socialists , far left activists, Anarchists, Jacobins etc. Marx celebrated this as the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' (not industrial workers) who introduced social reforms. They set up nurseries so the women could work and improved working conditions (abolished night working). Workers were given the chance to take over businesses and they separated the Church from the State. Female Sufferage was rife and commune was ruthlessly destroyed. 20,000- 30,000 people were executed. It was mainly the working class of Paris and women who were shot in hundreds and thousands because of the reputation given for leaving the commune. Basically it was their way of saying you won't get away with trying to take control over. The belief in Paris at this time was that 'anyone in Paris was guilty' as they believed if you didn't want anything to do with all of this you will have left the country. This was unfair as the poor people were the majority of France due to all of the rich people being able to leave. The commune was short lived but had a huge impact on European politics. Anyone that challenges authority will be destroyed as it undermines the army and the confidence of the French.
Dreyfus Affair
Defeat of France in the French- Prussian war in 1871 still casted a long shadow by 1984 the year of Dreyfus conviction. The French built an overseas empire in Asia and Africa but were concerned about anything that might threaten the sense of French greatness. There was a feeling of fragility and paranoia around France at this time. Politicians were bribed to stay quiet about companies financial problems, the bribes were organised by two Jewish businessmen.
France was very militaristic where the army was seen as a symbol of French identity. There was a worry about another way starting with Germany which meant a large increase in spying by all European countries. France was paranoid about outside their country but also in France itself as everyone became a spy.
The affair put the right against left, with the army, catholic church and monarchists (anti-dreyfusards) against the Republicans, Jews and socialists (dreyfusards). There was evidence of secret French military as information was found in the wastepaper basket in the German Embassy. The army immediately implicated Captain Dreyfus as the person had to be found that had been passing information to Germany. Dreyfus was intelligent from Aisace (the place Germany had taken over) and a Jew who said 'he didn't do it, it wasn't me' The army held a secret court martial and found him guilty of treason. He was stripped of his military rank and sent to Devils Island 1894. The evidence against him was apparently secret and couldn't be shown as it would put the military at risk however they said the handwriting was the same as the one found on the letter.
Later an officer looked into the evidence and decided it was wrong. He discovered the real culprit officer called Estherhazy however his superior dismissed the evidence, 'what is it to you if a Jew rots on Devils Island?' as he said he cannot free Dreyfus as it would look bad on the army. Eventually Estherhazy did go on trial in a military court and was found not guilty. The famous French journalist and novelist Emile Zola wrote a famous article 'J'accuse' where he named the people who he said were corrupt and who convicted Dryfus wrongly. Zola is tried and convicted of libel, fined and sentenced to prison but fled to London. This lead to many anti-Jewish riots all over France as right-wing papers called for all Jews to lose their citizenship.
The army recognised the weakness of the case and more documents are created (forged) by an officer called Henry who later was praised for his 'patriotic forgery'. Henry slit his throat in prison and when he was discovered was seen as a hero a martyr to the Jewish syndicate. The people believed it was a good thing he did this as they thought he would have only gone on to do something else that caused trouble.
By this time Dreyfus had become skinny and had lost the ability to speak as the prison wardens had been told not to talk to him. They had also built a huge brick wall which meant he couldn't see out to the sea from his window. He was re- trailed with lots of new evidence that suggested he was not guilty however yet again he was found guilty with 'extenuating circumstances'. On 12 July 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The day after his exoneration, he was readmitted into the army with a promotion to the rank of Major 'Chef d'Escadron'.
Dreyfus died in Paris aged 75, on 12 July 1935, 29 years to the day after his official exoneration. Dreyfus was a loyal man as he had fought bravely in WW1 for France and action Francoise (a far right group created around the time of his trial against Jews and foreigners. The final irony was that his granddaughter died in camp of Auschwitz in WW2.
Conspiracy theories were the Protocols of the Elders of Zion who denied the Holocaust even though there was clear evidence of a documentary that showed Jews were planning to take over the world. It is good for journalists to be sceptical of every piece of evidence that is given to them and try and find other ways around it before agreeing that it is right.
They were defeated and France paid for this in a big way. Alsace and Lorraine (industrial centuries of France) were given up which was a big thing for France as they were wealthy and politically important promises to France. They also had to pay out a lot of money to Germany to say sorry for starting a war. There were 2 million people in Paris surrounded by German forces. The problem was they they couldn't afford to feed everyone which meant people were slaughtering horses to eat. There was even a story of people breaking into a zoo and killing all of the animals to eat them! They attempted to send messages to Germany via balloons however this didn't work so they moved onto pigeons. The Germans prevented this however by getting hawks which killed the pigeons and stopped the messages being received.
The Provisional French Government signed an armistice but there was still a very heavy peace between the two. They lost Alsace and Lorraine and had to pay yet another large amount of money to Germany.
The Paris commune and landlords returned to Paris and demanded rent and interest. A new national government had a majority of royalists and there was a fear of restoration of the monarchy. A commune was created on the 18th March to May 28th 1871 by women which was known as 'festival of oppressed'. This had a strong influence in policy decisions of commune (a in the French Revolution). There was a strange mix of moderate socialists , far left activists, Anarchists, Jacobins etc. Marx celebrated this as the 'dictatorship of the proletariat' (not industrial workers) who introduced social reforms. They set up nurseries so the women could work and improved working conditions (abolished night working). Workers were given the chance to take over businesses and they separated the Church from the State. Female Sufferage was rife and commune was ruthlessly destroyed. 20,000- 30,000 people were executed. It was mainly the working class of Paris and women who were shot in hundreds and thousands because of the reputation given for leaving the commune. Basically it was their way of saying you won't get away with trying to take control over. The belief in Paris at this time was that 'anyone in Paris was guilty' as they believed if you didn't want anything to do with all of this you will have left the country. This was unfair as the poor people were the majority of France due to all of the rich people being able to leave. The commune was short lived but had a huge impact on European politics. Anyone that challenges authority will be destroyed as it undermines the army and the confidence of the French.
Dreyfus Affair
Defeat of France in the French- Prussian war in 1871 still casted a long shadow by 1984 the year of Dreyfus conviction. The French built an overseas empire in Asia and Africa but were concerned about anything that might threaten the sense of French greatness. There was a feeling of fragility and paranoia around France at this time. Politicians were bribed to stay quiet about companies financial problems, the bribes were organised by two Jewish businessmen.
France was very militaristic where the army was seen as a symbol of French identity. There was a worry about another way starting with Germany which meant a large increase in spying by all European countries. France was paranoid about outside their country but also in France itself as everyone became a spy.
The affair put the right against left, with the army, catholic church and monarchists (anti-dreyfusards) against the Republicans, Jews and socialists (dreyfusards). There was evidence of secret French military as information was found in the wastepaper basket in the German Embassy. The army immediately implicated Captain Dreyfus as the person had to be found that had been passing information to Germany. Dreyfus was intelligent from Aisace (the place Germany had taken over) and a Jew who said 'he didn't do it, it wasn't me' The army held a secret court martial and found him guilty of treason. He was stripped of his military rank and sent to Devils Island 1894. The evidence against him was apparently secret and couldn't be shown as it would put the military at risk however they said the handwriting was the same as the one found on the letter.
Later an officer looked into the evidence and decided it was wrong. He discovered the real culprit officer called Estherhazy however his superior dismissed the evidence, 'what is it to you if a Jew rots on Devils Island?' as he said he cannot free Dreyfus as it would look bad on the army. Eventually Estherhazy did go on trial in a military court and was found not guilty. The famous French journalist and novelist Emile Zola wrote a famous article 'J'accuse' where he named the people who he said were corrupt and who convicted Dryfus wrongly. Zola is tried and convicted of libel, fined and sentenced to prison but fled to London. This lead to many anti-Jewish riots all over France as right-wing papers called for all Jews to lose their citizenship.
The army recognised the weakness of the case and more documents are created (forged) by an officer called Henry who later was praised for his 'patriotic forgery'. Henry slit his throat in prison and when he was discovered was seen as a hero a martyr to the Jewish syndicate. The people believed it was a good thing he did this as they thought he would have only gone on to do something else that caused trouble.
By this time Dreyfus had become skinny and had lost the ability to speak as the prison wardens had been told not to talk to him. They had also built a huge brick wall which meant he couldn't see out to the sea from his window. He was re- trailed with lots of new evidence that suggested he was not guilty however yet again he was found guilty with 'extenuating circumstances'. On 12 July 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The day after his exoneration, he was readmitted into the army with a promotion to the rank of Major 'Chef d'Escadron'.
Dreyfus died in Paris aged 75, on 12 July 1935, 29 years to the day after his official exoneration. Dreyfus was a loyal man as he had fought bravely in WW1 for France and action Francoise (a far right group created around the time of his trial against Jews and foreigners. The final irony was that his granddaughter died in camp of Auschwitz in WW2.
Conspiracy theories were the Protocols of the Elders of Zion who denied the Holocaust even though there was clear evidence of a documentary that showed Jews were planning to take over the world. It is good for journalists to be sceptical of every piece of evidence that is given to them and try and find other ways around it before agreeing that it is right.
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