Raoul Le Mouton de Boisdeffre
Raoul François Charles Le Mouton de Boisdeffre ( born February 6, 1839 in Alençon, † August 24, 1919 in Paris) was a French professional soldier. During the Dreyfus Affair, he was chief of the French General Staff.
Raoul de Boisdeffre was 1879-1880 French military attaché in Russia. In 1887 he was appointed brigadier general. 1892 he was appointed major general. He was instrumental in 1892 because it was a first alliance between the French Third Republic and the Tsarist Russia. It was an essential step to liberate the French Third Republic from its political isolation in the otherwise monarchist ruled Europe.
Role in the Dreyfus Affair
Raoul de Boisdeffre in 1893 as Head of the French General Staff; in his responsibility, therefore, were the investigations against the Jewish artillery captain Alfred Dreyfus, who served on the general staff. Alfred Dreyfus was sentenced on December 22, 1894 on charges of treason by a military court to life imprisonment, military degradation and deportation. The judgment, however, based on questionable handwriting compare and illegal evidence. For the retrial and acquittal of Dreyfus sat down initially only family members and a few persons that are doubts as to the guilt of the accused had come in the course of the process. The miscarriage of justice widened for the affair move, the new head of the French intelligence service, Lieutenant Colonel Marie -Georges Picquart, the actual traitor Ferdinand Walsin - Esterhazy was able to identify and to the demands of his superiors, including Boisdeffre was resisted, made the misjudgment against Dreyfus to leave. His office was Picquart dismissed as head of the intelligence service, first in the province and then transferred to North Africa, Esterhazy acquitted in a court martial on the basis of false evidence on 11 January 1898. Was accompanied the process of tirades of anti-Semitic part of the French press, the ' accused the defender Dreyfus to accuse an honorable officer in the service of a " Jewish syndicate " to replace it with a Jewish traitor.
In response to Esterhazy's acquittal published the French author Émile Zola on 13 January 1898 article J'accuse ...! , Who denounced this miscarriage of justice. The article drew the Dreyfus case in the center of public discussion and aroused far beyond the borders of France much attention. In France and Algeria, it came as a consequence anti-Semitic riots. Picquart was discharged from the army and arrested for treason secret, asked Zola for libel in court. The trial of Zola lasted two weeks. In the courtroom, the two succeeded Zola lawyers Fernand Labori and Albert Clemenceau to elicit through their skillful questioning the witnesses again and again statements about the Dreyfus affair, although the presiding judge was always trying to limit their questions to matters of the prosecution. Cornered, General Pellieux reiterated a document into the game that supposedly clear the debt Dreyfus ' covers, and then quoted the text of Le faux Henry. As Labori asked that the court to submit the document at hand a general Gonse, unlike the Pellieux was aware that Le faux henry was one of the forgeries in the secret dossier. He confirmed the existence of the document, however, claimed it could not be publicly presented. The court allowed the then Chief of General Staff Boisdeffre as witnesses. Boisdeffre confirmed Pellieux ' statements, and then turned living testimonies to the court:
After Léon Blum's view of the process made it clear that the allegations were true Zola. Boisdeffres words, in which he demanded a choice between the army and Zola and the Dreyfusverteidigern had, however, left a strong impression in the public and in the courtroom. On February 23, Zola was sentenced to a fine of 3,000 francs and a year in prison. Prime Minister Méline called the next day in the Chamber of Deputies the cases Zola and Dreyfus as completed. Two days later Picquart was dishonorably discharged from the army.
The new Minister of War Godefroy Cavaignacs let the evidence, however, examine months later. This revealed that parts of the secret dossiers were fake. It was much Captain Hubert Henry and the deputy head of the General Staff, Charles Arthur Gonse involved. Hubert Henry committed suicide on August 31, 1898 suicide Boisdeffre subsequently went from his position as Chief of General Staff back. The discovery of the forgery led to a new court-martial proceedings against Dreyfus, where he was declared guilty for a second time. The Government of France pardoned Dreyfus then. Boisdeffre counted in this time the staunch opponents of Dreyfus and remained convinced of his guilt. Dreyfus was completely exonerated until the year 1906.