Alfred Dreyfus Affair - Theodor Herzl and Zionism

The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal which divided France from the 1890s to the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Jewish background who was in advanced training with the Army's General Staff. Alfred Dreyfus was sentenced to life imprisonment which he began to serve in solitary confinement on Devil's Island in French Guiana.
All the accusations against Alfred Dreyfus were eventually demonstrated to be baseless. Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated as a major in the French Army in 1906. He later served during the whole of World War l, ending his service with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.