The Boulanger Affair was the first major political crisis to face the Republic. General George Boulanger was made Minister for War in 1886 and given the task of reorganising the army which he did with great aplomb. He gained much popularity and support by his rousing speeches against Bismarck’s Germany. However more moderate members of government were afraid that his speeches would provoke them into a war with Germany and so demoted him to a provincial office. This move caused him to gain an even greater following as he became a ‘darling of the discontented’. He was persuaded to stand for election in Paris and won an overwhelming majority. From this his supporters urged to stage a coup d’etat, but his nerve failed him at the last moment and he fled to Belgium where he committed suicide two years later. The importance of this movement does not however lie in the man of his actions, but in the support it attracted and the desperate need among the French people for a strong political figure and the danger it posed to the Third Republic.
The Panama Scandal was a new example of the political corruption of the Third Republic. Its origins lay with Ferdinand de Lesseps and his attempt to repeat the success of the Suez Canal with the Panama Canal. The project attracted the interest of thousands of French investors and construction began in 1881. Difficulties were encountered immediately with miles of rock, and yellow fever claiming the lives of thousands of canal workers. Politicians and journalists were bribed to keep the problems a secret. In 1888, the government authorised the sale of lottery bonds to finance the venture but not enough money was raised and the company went bankrupt. A subsequent enquiry revealed tales of bribery, secrecy and corruption. Several prominent parliamentarians and Jewish financiers were implicated. The Republican regime was accused of being incurably corrupt and in the ensuing months and years Jews became the convenient whipping boys for those who had lost their savings.
The Dreyfus Affair was perhaps the most serious scandal to befall the Third French Republic. In 1894 a document, the “bordereau” was found, suggesting that French military information had been leaked to German diplomats. Suspicion fell on a Jewish military officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was tried, found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island. Many protested his innocence and when a second document was found Georges Picquart took up the case. He came to believe that a man called Esterhazy was guilty. He was tried by court martial and found not guilty. The novelist, Emile Zola wrote an open letter to the French President called J’accuse and accused the war office of aiding and abetting a serious miscarriage of justice. This roused passions to a fever pitch and forced everyone to take sides, civil war was threatening. In 1899 a new trial was ordered where Dreyfus was again found guilty but this time with “extenuating circumstances”. A pardon was granted and general amnesty for all involved followed. It wasn’t until 1906 that he was exonerated of all guilt, readmitted to the army and given the Legion of Honour.
There was also at this time in France great conflict between Church and State. With the church being viewed as anti-Republic and the State for its part wishing to reduce the Church’s power. In 1892 Ferry, wished to make education free, compulsory and secular. Jesuits were expelled from the country and other orders banned from teaching ( unless authorised by the government). Pope Leo XIII urged Catholic to accept Republican regime and meet their social obligations. In 1901, the Law of Associations was passed which required all members of religious groups to obtain permission for their activities. In 1905 the Law of Separation of Church and State was passed and was greeted by riots. It gave freedom of worship to all religions and withdrew financial support to the French Catholic Church. By 1914, however the Church was beginning to see that freedom state interference and patronage could be beneficial.
Overall the Third French Republic faced many challenges form its inception in 1870. it seemed to stagger from one crisis to the next the average tenure of each government being between eight and ten months. However, by 1914 it had in fact outlasted all previous regimes since 1789 and was the form of government that divided Frenchmen least, as it held conflicting political interests together. Included among the strengths of the Republic are the payment of German war indemnities, reorganisation of the army, educational reforms, industrial and foreign progress and considerable colonial expansion.
