The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Jewish descent was convicted of treason for having communicated French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. Dreyfus was and sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to the penal colony at Île du Diable in French Guiana.
In 1896, it became clear the Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was the real culprit. However, Esterhazy was never formally charged or convicted during his lifetime and retired from the military in 1898.
Dreyfus was pardoned by President Émile Loubet in 1899 and released from prison. However, he was subjected to a second trial and again declared guilty of treason despite the evidence in favor of his innocence. On July 12, 1906, Dreyfus was officially exonerated by a military commission. The next day, he was readmitted into the army with the rank of Major.
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