Start Date
3 October, 2025
There will be 5 weekly meetings on Friday, 11am - 12pm, starting from 3 October.
Overview
This course comprises a weekly 1 hour live online meeting (via Zoom) and online learning materials for you to engage with before and after each live session.
One man. Two wrongful convictions. One of the most divisive affairs to rock French society in the nineteenth century. On 15 October 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer, was wrongfully accused of selling military secrets to Germany via Maximilien von Schwartzkoppen, the German military-attaché. Despite a lack of concrete evidence, Dreyfus was convicted, stripped of his military honours, and exiled to Devil’s Island. Between 1894 and 1906, France essentially became divided into two camps: Dreyfusards and Anti-Dreyfusards, causing bitter divisions amongst family, friends and communities. The Dreyfus Affair has frequently been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in nineteenth century France. This course aims to offer diversity to the curriculum by introducing participants to questions of citizenship, nationality, identity and justice in nineteenth-century France from the perspective of an individual who lived on the margins of French society and was considered as ‘the other’.
No prior knowledge of the Dreyfus Affair is required as context will be provided each week. Participants can expect a blended lecture/seminar style approach, with audience participation strongly encouraged. Translated extracts of arguments put forth by Dreyfusards and Anti-Dreyfusards, including Emile Zola, Bernard Lazare and Maurice Barrès, will be provided ahead of classes to allow participants to explore these sources for themselves and in small groups prior to larger group discussions. At the end of the course, participants will be asked to decide whether they think the Dreyfus Affair was a miscarriage of justice or the scapegoating of a Jewish officer.
The diversity of this topic means that it is suitable for a broad audience. It may be particularly appealing to those interested in France in the long nineteenth-century, gender history, masculinity, the role of the press in French society, the significance of visual materials in historical study, and those interested in religion and identity in modern Europe. .
Syllabus
- An introduction to the Dreyfus Affair
- What did it mean to be French in the 19th century?
- The Dreyfusards vs Anti-Dreyfusards
- Reactions of the International Press
- The Lasting Legacies of the Dreyfus Affair
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier.
In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Dr Sam Dobbie
Sam Dobbie is a PhD History graduate from the University of Glasgow, where she also obtained her MA History and MLitt Modern History degrees. She specialises in the French Revolution, with particular emphasis on the role of women in revolutionary society. Her PhD thesis is entitled ‘Women’s Political Agency in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1793’. Other research interests include France in the long nineteenth-century and revolution as a process. She has most recently been a tutor at the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University on a range of undergraduate and honours courses including France, 1789-1914: Revolution, Nation and Empire, Becoming an Historian, and the Rise of Western Societies, 1789-1914. She also offers courses to adult learners on the Lifelong Learning Dundee programme. Some of her publications include ‘The Complex Nature of Memory in Personal Testimonies from the French Revolution: The Example of Fournier l’Américain’, Esharp 31 (2024), and ‘High Profile Marriages in Revolutionary Paris: The Condorcets’, Epoch 5 (2021).
Courses fees: Full fee £80/Concession £40.
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