Background Information
During the Franco Prussian war in the 19th Century, was a growing power and a great influence on Prussia under the rule of Bismarck. Bismarck wished to unify Germany. France was ruled by Napoleon and France was forced into war with Prussia without any allies. This continued until Napoleon was captured and France was therefore defeated. This was a great humiliation for France and for Napoleon. Due to Napoleon's capture Paris declared the Third Republic- siege of Paris by Germans.
Germans were fantastic in war and so it was inevitable that France would lose. This means that because the French lost the war they therefore have to pay compensation (a huge indemnity) and also the French Provinces of Alsace and Lorraine had to be handed over to the Germans. There were 2 million people who remained in Paris and refused to give up to the Germans. The Germans had Paris surrounded and acted in a vicious/ savage manner to the Parisians. They were starved and even had to slaughter horses for food. The Parisians attempted to use pigeons to send messages to others outside of Paris but the Germans brought in hawks to eat the pigeons. The Parisians gave up in 1871 and the Germans now have a victorious nation.
The Paris Commune
Landlords returned to Paris and demanded rent and interest. A new National Government consisted of mainly Royalists and so there was a fear of a new monarchy. The Commune was created in March 1871 and then was abolished in May 1871, so only last 2 months. The Commune gave the Parisians a chance to rebel against the government by setting up their own rules: ''Festival of the Oppressed'' ( Lenin). This also gave women the chance to be equally powerful in the Commune as they to set up their own rules. Activists, Socialists, Anarchists and Jacobins were all in the Commune. Marx supported the Commune: ''the dictatorship of the Proletariat.''
The Commune introduced social reforms such as setting up nurseries so that women could work. Night working was also abolished and consequently all working conditions were improved. People had the right to run a business, separated Church and State.
The Commune was ruthlessly destroyed, somewhere between 20,000 and 30,000 people were executed. ''In Paris everyone was guilty'' Especially women were shot since women were vital to the leadership of the Commune, they undermined the confidence in the army and so had to be put in their place. Despite the Commune being short lived it had a huge impact on European Politics.
Dreyfus Affair
In 1894, the defeat of the Franco- Prussian War just cast a shadow over France. The French built an overseas empire in Asia/Africa but were concerned about everything that might effect their power/reputation/greatness once more. Politicians were bribed by Jewish people to stay quiet about financial problems.
France was very militaristic and the army were seen as a symbol of French identity, they were still however, worried about there being another war with Germany. There was a huge increase in spying in all European Countries.
There was evidence of secret French information being found in a wastepaper basket in the German embassy. The Army decided to pin the blame on Captain Dreyfus for passing this information onto the Germans since he was intelligent and from Alsace, so therefore a Jew. He remained adamant that he was innocent.
In 1894 Dreyfus was found guilty for a crime he did not commit and was sent in exile to 'Devil's Island'. Later on an officer looked into the case again and discovered that the real culprit was a man called Esterhazy. The French government were reluctant to believe this was true but if it did turn out to be true they believed that if a Jew rots on 'Devil's Island' it is a good thing. Esterhazy was put on trial but found innocent (wrongly convicted) A famous French journalist called Emile Zola was furious about this miscarriage of justice and wrote an article called 'J'accuse' which named the men who he believed to be corrupt in the government and he stated that Dreyfus was wrongly convicted. This was a very brave thing to do. Zola was convicted of Libel and fined and sentenced to prison, he fled to London.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out and right wing papers campaign for Jews to lose their citizenship. The army recognised the weaknesses in their case and so forged documents in order to provide more evidence which will keep Dreyfus on 'Devil's Island'.The man who forged these documents committed suicide in prison after he was caught and was seen as a martyr/ a hero. After Dreyfus was retrialed and was found guilty with ' extenuating circumstances', Dreyfus was trailed again and prenounced innocent not until July 1906.
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