J'Accuse

At the start of the Dreyfus Affair in 1894, France was in the midst of the Third Republic, a period that lasted from the end of the reign of Emperor Napoleon III in 1870 to the Fall of France during World War II in 1940. The Third Republic began after the Second French Empire crumbled during the Franco-Prussian War, and France became governed by a provisional-turned-permanent parliamentary government. The Second Empire was led by Napoleon III and emerged after the dissolution of the Second Republic, which was the brief period of French republican government that existed for four years, from 1848 to 1852, after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon III, the nephew of Bonaparte, was elected president under this temporary republic in 1848, but staged a successful coup in 1851 to obtain power as Emperor, like his uncle. After 18 years as Emperor and a series of tactical foreign policy mistakes that led to an alienation from France’s allies—coupled with the ongoing war with Prussia—republican forces were recaptured by the French government, and the Third Republic began. After the volatility of the Franco-Prussian War and the transitions between empire and republic, France settled into a period of relative governmental stability, with regular democratic elections.