A Brief Timeline of the Dreyfus Affair
1859
October 9 - Birth of Alfred Dreyfus, in Mulhouse, Alsace (at that time part of France).
1892
Dreyfus completes his training at the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre, ranking 9th out of a class of eighty-one officers.
1894
Mid-late September - A list of military secrets (later known as the bordereau) is intercepted at the German embassy.
October 15 - Dreyfus is accused of high treason, arrested, and imprisoned in secrecy.
December 19-22 - First Trial: Dreyfus’s first court-martial held in closed session. Dreyfus is sentenced to perpetual deportation.
1895
January 5 - Degradation: Military degradation of Dreyfus. Dreyfus is publicly stripped of his rank in the courtyard of the Ecole Militaire.
April 14 - Imprisonment: Dreyfus is placed in solitary confinement on Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guyana.
1896
March - Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart receives a document revealing Major Marie Charles Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy as a German spy.
1897
October - Vice-President of the French Senate, Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, begins a campaign to reopen the Dreyfus investigation after becoming convinced of Dreyfus’s innocence.
1898
January 10-11 - Esterhazy is tried and acquitted by court-martial.
January 13 - Emile Zola’s “J’Accuse” is printed in Georges Clemenceau’s L’Aurore.
August 24-27 - Esterhazy appears before a military board of inquiry and reveals details of his activities.
September 1 - Esterhazy flees to England.
1899
August 7-September 9 - Second Trial: Court-martial in Rennes. Dreyfus is found guilty with extenuating circumstances and sentenced to 10 years detention.
September 19 - President Emile Loubet signs an order of pardon for Dreyfus.
September 20 - Dreyfus is released from prison.
1902
September 29 - Death of Zola under suspicious circumstances.
1903
November 26 - Dreyfus petitions for retrial in order to clear his name.
1906
July 12 - The Court of Appeals annuls the Dreyfus verdict.
July 13 - Parliament votes to reinstate Dreyfus as a captain.
July 21 - Exoneration of Dreyfus. He is named a Chevalier (knight) of the Legion of Honor in a ceremony at the Ecole Militaire.
1908
June 4 - Zola’s ashes are transferred to the Panthéon, a mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens. During the ceremony, Dreyfus is shot and wounded by Louis-Anthelme Grégori.
1914
August - At the outbreak of World War I, Dreyfus volunteers for active duty. He fights in the heavy engagements at the front, as does his son Pierre.
1935
July 12 - Death of Alfred Dreyfus.
1998
January 13 - A commemorative plaque honoring Dreyfus and Zola is unveiled at the Ecole Militaire.