Chronology of the Dreyfus business

1894

September 26th : Appearance of the “form” with the “Section of Statistics” (against espionage) directed by the lieutenant-colonel Sandherr. It is a letter addressed to von Schwartzkoppen, the German military attach3e in station in Paris. An investigation is opened by the ministry.
October 6th : Conclusion of the internal survey: the form is hand of Alfred Dreyfus.
October 15th : Arrest of the captain Dreyfus with the ministry for the war by the commander of Paty de Clam.
October 29th : the Free Word , newspaper anti-semite, disseminates the information of the arrest of a French officer for high treason.
October 31st : The commander of Paty de Clam submits his report on the investigation which it has just led to the Minister for the War.
November-December : Vast campaign of press orchestrated by the nationalist newspapers and anti-semites.
from December 19th to 21st : Lawsuit of the Dreyfus captain in council of war behind closed doors.
December 22nd : Judgment unanimously with the deportation with perpetuity in Guyana for high treason. In all illegality, a secret file was transmitted to the Court without the knowledge of defense and the defendant.
December 31st : Rejection of the appeal in revision.

1895

January 5th : Public degradation of the Dreyfus captain in a military schoolyard. Condemned its innocence shouts.
January 17th : Departure of Dreyfus for Saint-Martin-of-D.
February 9th : Law fixing a second place of detention in an enclosure strengthened at the islands of the Hello (Guyana).
February 21st : Departure of Dreyfus for Guyana.
March 12th : Arrival of Dreyfus in Guyana.
April 14th : Transfer to Devil's Island.
July 14th : The major Picquart becomes chief of SR.

1896

March 2nd : Discovered “small-blue” written by Schwartzkoppen and addressed to the commander Esterházy. - Investigation of colonel Picquart into Esterházy, whose conclusions show that he is the author of the form.
April 29th : The general Billot becomes Minister for the War in the cabinet Méline.
August 5th : Picquart announces with its superiors and to the minister who the form is hand of Esterházy.
August 31st : Picquart studies the secret file.
September 1st : Picquart announces with its superiors that the secret file does not contain any proof against Dreyfus.
September 14th : The newspaper the Flash , while wanting to prove in an “irrefutable” way the culpability of Dreyfus, reveals the communication of secret parts to the judges of the Council of war, operates completely illegal.
September 16th : Mrs. Lucie Dreyfus asks for the revision of the lawsuit of her husband for military violation of the procedure rules.
November 1st : The commander Henry decides to supplement the Dreyfus file by the Forgerie. One of the parts which it will have manufactured will be called the “Henry forgery”.
November 6th : Publication of a booklet of Bernard Lazare in Brussels: a miscarriage of justice. The truth on the Dreyfus Business.
November 10th : the Morning publishes a facsimile of the form.
November 14th : Departure on mission of the Picquart lieutenant-colonel named in Tunisia.
November 18th : Challenged with the Room, the Billot general affirms that the military procedure rules were complied with within the framework of the debates and the judgment of Dreyfus.

1897

January: The major Henry is named chief of SR.
21 June 29th : Picquart entrusts, under the seal of the secrecy, its discoveries with Louis Leblois, his friend lawyer.
July 13rd : Leblois entrusts to Scheurer-Kestner, vice president of the Sénat and convinces it of the innocence of Dreyfus.
October 16th : The officers Gonse, Henry and of Paty de Clam, decide to protect Esterházy by preventing it from the charges of which it will be the object.
November 5th : Gabriel Monod affirms the miscarriage of justice of which is Dreyfus victim in the newspaper Time .
November 11th : Mathieu Dreyfus, who learned, thanks to the Castro banker, which is the true author of the form, will find Scheurer-Kestner, which assure him its information.
November 16th : The newspapers of the morning publish a letter of Mathieu Dreyfus to the Minister for the War, denouncing Esterházy like the author of the form. What causes the opening of an investigation.
November 25th : Zola publishes its first article in favor of the cause of Dreyfus in Le Figaro .
November 28th : Le Figaro publishes extracts of letters of Esterházy. In the letter of Ulhan , it affirms to dream to enter to Paris to the head of a regiment of cavalry and to saber a hundred and thousand French.
December 14th : Zola publishes the Lettre with youth , after having published Procès-verbal in Le Figaro .
December 26th : After having studied the form, the three experts, Belhomme, Varinard and Couard, their conclusions give to the commander Ravary: they affirm that the document is not the work of Esterházy.

1898

January 1st : The setting in judgment of the commander Esterházy is decided in an original form: it is Esterházy which requires itself to be judged. It is the French SR which recommended to him to act thus.
January 11th : The Council of war, which had pronounced the door - closed, vote the payment of Esterházy unanimously.
January 13rd : Zola publishes I show , in the Dawn . Colonel Picquart is condemned to sixty days of fortress and is imprisoned with the Valérien mount.
January 18th : The Billot general carries felt sorry for against Emile Zola and the Dawn .
February 7th : Beginning of the lawsuit of Emile Zola in front of the Court of Assizes of the the Seine.
February 23rd : Emile Zola is condemned for slandering to the maximum sentence, that is to say one year of prison firm and: 3000 francs of fine.
February 25th : Colonel Picquart is put in reform. Creation of the French League for the defense of the human rights and the citizen.
March 9th : Brought lawsuit with Zola by the three experts in writings blamed by Emile Zola in I show , in front of the 9th Criminal Court.
April 2nd : The Court of criminal appeal of the Court of appeal breakage and cancels the judgment of February 23rd for legal flaw.
April 8th : The Council of war carries felt sorry for in the forms against Emile Zola. The new lawsuit takes place in July.
June 16th : The Court of appeal rejects the appeal formed by Fernand Labori on May 23rd.
July 7th : Cavaignac, new Minister for the war, affirms in a speech with the Room, to hold the irrefutable evidence of the culpability of Dreyfus through three documents extracted the “secret file”.
July 9th : Picquart is addressed to the president of the Council in writing by specifying that on the three parts presented by Cavaignac, two are voluntarily badly dated and the third is a forgery. The minister carries felt sorry for against Leblois and Picquart, in accordance with the laws on espionage.
July 13rd : Picquart is écroué with Health.
July 18th : Emile Zola is again condemned to Bases. He flees in England to escape the prison.
August 10th : Beginning of a series of articles of Jean Jaurès in the Small Republic (entitled the Evidence ).
August 12th : Following a request of the Feuilloley prosecutor, the room of the committal for trial hands down a judgment of withdrawal of case in favor of Esterházy. It is given in freedom.
August 13rd : The “Henry forgery” is discovered by the captain Cuignet, military attach3e of Cavaignac.
August 30th : The commander Henry passes to the consents in the presence of the Cavaignac minister; he is stopped on the field and conduit with the Mount-Valérien.
August 31st : The commander Henry dies in his cell the throat cut with the razor.
September 3rd : Resignation of Cavaignac.
September 22nd : Colonel Picquart is écroué with the Prison of Seek-midday.
October 27th : The court of criminal appeal of the Court of appeal begins the examination of the demand for revision.
October 29th : She declares the request admissible, and decides to proceed to an investigation.

1899

January 6th : Jules Quesnay de Beaurepaire, chair civil court of the Court of appeal, shows the court of criminal appeal of partiality towards colonel Picquart and claims an investigation.
February 9th : The court of criminal appeal closes its investigation into the revision.
February 16th : Died of Felix Faure, which was a given adversary of the revision.
March 31st : Le Figaro begins the publication of the official report of the investigation carried out by the court of criminal appeal of the Court of appeal.
April 24th : Beginning of hearings of the Court of appeal.
June 1st : Arrest of of Paty de Clam.
June 3rd : The Court of appeal cancels the judgment of 1894 and returns in front of the new Council of war.
June 13rd : Picquart obtains a withdrawal of case.
June 9th : Alfred Dreyfus leaves Devil's Island.
July 1st : Dreyfus is locked up in the military prison of Rennes on its arrival in France.
July 18th : the Morning publishes an account of Esterházy, in which he recognizes being the author of the form, but “under the dictation”, in obedience of the orders of its chiefs.
August 7th : Opening of the lawsuit of Alfred Dreyfus in front of the Council of war of Xe military region of Rennes.
August 14th : With Rennes, attempted murder against the lawyer Fernand Labori.
September 8th : Solitary pleading of Edgar Itches because Fernand Labori gave up his pleading in the interest of Dreyfus .
September 9th : New judgment of Dreyfus, at ten years of prison, but this time, with “extenuating circumstances”.
September 19th : Grace of Alfred Dreyfus by the president of the Republic, Emile Loubet.
End of the year : The government deposits a law of amnesty whose advertisement starts critical sharp because it will put at the shelter continuations all the persons in charge of the Business.

1900 to 1906

December 24th, 1900 : The Senate votes the law of amnesty on all the facts concerning the Dreyfus business. The military and civil authors of the plot will never be continued.
September 29th, 1902 : Death of Emile Zola in Paris of an intoxication to carbon dioxide in its apartment.
October 5th, 1902 : Funeral, with the Montmartre cemetery. Speech of Anatole France: “Let us envy it, it was one moment of the human conscience. ”
November 26th, 1903 : Alfred Dreyfus written with the Minister of Justice to ask the revision of the lawsuit of Rennes.
1904-1906 : Procedures and meticulous investigations of the Court of appeal.
July 12th, 1906 : The Court of appeal, all joined together rooms, cancels without reference the judgment of the Council of war of Rennes, and affirms that the judgment carried against Alfred Dreyfus was marked “wrongly”.
July 13rd, 1906 : The Room votes a law reinstating Dreyfus in the army (with the rank of Major) like Picquart (with the Brigadier general rank of ).
July 21st, 1906 : Alfred Dreyfus is made knight of the Légion of honor.

References

Chronology compiled starting from the following sources:

Site of the Books naturalists
Site of the French National Assembly
Georgetown university

Jean-Denis Bredin, the Business , Beech, Paris, 1993 (1st edition 1981)
Jean Doise, a well kept secrecy; Military history of the Business Dreyfus . The Threshold, collection 20th century, 1994: 225p.

Random links: