Today in History- January 5th DREYFUS AFFAIR IN FRANCE: January 5, 1895 French officer Alfred Dreyfus, condemned for passing military secrets to the Germans, is stripped of his rank in a humiliating public ceremony in the courtyard of Paris' Ecole Militaire. The Jewish artillery captain, convicted on flimsy evidence in a highly irregular trial, began his life sentence on the notorious Devil's Island Prison in French Guyana four months later.The Dreyfus case demonstrated the anti-Semitism permeating France's military and, because many praised the ruling, in France in general. Interest in the case lapsed until 1896, when evidence was disclosed that implicated French Major Ferdinand Esterhazy as the guilty party. The army attempted to suppress this information, but a national uproar ensued, and the military had no choice but to put Esterhazy on trial. A court-martial was held in January 1898, and Esterhazy was acquitted within an hour.In response, the French novelist ýmile Zola published an open letter on the front page of the Aurore entitled "J'Accuse," which accused the judges of being under the thumb of the military. By the evening, 200,000 copies had been sold. One month later, Zola was sentenced to jail for libel but managed to escape to England. Meanwhile, out of the scandal a perilous national division was born, in which nationalists and members of the Catholic Church supported the military, while republicans, socialists, and advocates of religious freedom lined up to defend Dreyfus.In 1898, Major Hubert Henry, discoverer of the original letter attributed to Dreyfus, admitted that he had forged much of the evidence against Dreyfus and committed suicide. Soon after, Esterhazy fled the country. The military was forced to order a new court-martial for Dreyfus. In 1899, he was found guilty in another show trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, a new French administration pardoned him, and in 1906 the supreme court of appeals overturned his conviction. The debacle of the Dreyfus affair brought about greater liberalization in France, a reduction in the power of the military, and a formal separation of church and state. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE GENERAL INTEREST 1643 First divorce in the colonies 1968 Prague Spring begins in Czechoslovakia 1994 Former Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill dies historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272953&day=10272970 AUTOMOTIVE 1924 Chrysler Builds His Own Car historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=automotive&month=10272953&day=10272970 CIVIL WAR 1861 "Star of the West" leaves for Fort Sumter historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil&month=10272953&day=10272970 COLD WAR 1957 Eisenhower proposes new Middle East policy historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=coldwar&month=10272953&day=10272970 CRIME 1970 The United Mine Workers Killings historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=crime&month=10272953&day=10272970 ENTERTAINMENT 1959 Buddy Holly's last record released historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272953&day=10272970 LITERARY 1825 Alexandre Dumas pere fights a duel historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=literary&month=10272953&day=10272970 OLD WEST 1846 House resolves to stop sharing Oregon historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272953&day=10272970 PRESIDENTIAL 1949 Truman delivers his “Fair Deal” speech historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=presidential&month=10272953&day=10272970 VIETNAM WAR 1967 Amphibious operations conducted in the Mekong Delta historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=vietnamwar&month=10272953&day=10272970 WALL STREET 1914 Ford Gives Minimum Wage a Big Boost historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=wallstreet&month=10272953&day=10272970 WORLD WAR I 1916 First conscription bill is introduced in British parliament historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwari&month=10272953&day=10272970 WORLD WAR II 1945 Soviets recognize pro-Soviet Polish Provisional Government historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwarii&month=10272953&day=10272970