Download Biographies

Captain Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus was the son of a French Jewish textile
manufacturer and entered the French Army and rose to the
rank of Captain in 1889. In 1894 a fellow officer accused
him of selling military secrets to Germany. He was convicted
and sentenced to life in prison on the dreaded Devil’s Island.
The legal proceedings based on insufficient evidence, were
higly irregular, but public opinion and the French press, led
by its virulently anti-Semitic section, welcomed the verdict. In 1896 new
evidence surfaced that seemed to exonerate Dreyfus. The military tried to
suppress the information and failed, and the case became a political firestorm.
On the anti-Dreyfus side were royalists, militarists and Roman Catholics. Those
defending Dreyfus were republicans, socialists and anti-clerics, including famed
author Emile Zola, who was sentenced to jail for criticizing the government's role.
A new court-martial (1899) again found Dreyfus guilty and although under
heavy public pressure the military would not acknowledge any injustice. In 1906
a civilian court of appeals cleared Dreyfus and reversed all previous convictions.
The French President pardoned him and formally reinstated him to the rank of
Captain and decorated him with the Legion of Honour. The affair revealed an
institutionalized anti-Semitism in the army and helped unite the French left,
eventually leading to the separation of church and state.
Sources: http://www.answers.com/topic/alfred-dreyfus#ixzz1Eb2XOQ6P
1.
2.
3.
http://www.answers.com/topic/alfred-dreyfus#ixzz1Eb2c1zCx
Why was Alfred Dreyfus arrested and convicted?
What main underlying issue was the real reason Dreyfus was put on trial?
What positive outcomes came of this situation?
Queen Victoria
Born: 24 May 1819 Birthplace: London
Reign: 1837-1901 Died: 22 January 1901
Best Known As: Longest reigning queen 64 yrs
Life - Victoria was only 18 when she
became queen upon the death of her
uncle, King William IV. In 1840 she
married her first cousin Albert. They had
9 children and 42 grandchildren, most of
whom married into royal and noble
families throughout Europe. Victoria was
shattered by Albert’s untimely death at
the age of 42, and she went into a
prolonged period of mourning. (She never
stopped mourning entirely, wearing black
the rest of her life.) After her death in
1901 she was succeeded by her son Prince
Albert, who became King Edward VII.
1. Why is Queen Victoria seen as the mother of Europe?
2. What character traits do you think she possessed?
3. How is the modern world impacted by her today?
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/queen-victoria#ixzz1Ecfu0dj4
The Victorian Era:
She presided over a period of British
industrial progress, artistic successes,
political empire-building, and prescribed
gender roles which became known as the
Victorian Era. She was committed to seeing
Great Britain become a dominating world
power that had no match.
Odd Facts:
•In 1842 Victoria became the first monarch
to ride in a railway train
•The precise length of her reign was 63
years, 216 days
•She is the great-great-grandmother of
Queen Elizabeth II, and the great-greatgreat-great-grandmother of princes William
and Harry.
Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
Prussian statesman, founder of the German Empire, German chancellor
Born into the Prussian landowning elite, Bismarck
studied law and was elected to the Prussian Diet in
1849. In 1851 he was appointed Prussian
representative to the federal Diet in Frankfurt. After
serving as ambassador to Russia (1859 – 62) and
France (1862), he became prime minister and foreign
minister of Prussia (1862 – 71). When he took office,
Prussia was widely considered the weakest of the five
European powers, but under his leadership Prussia won
Denmark (1864), Austria
in the
Seven Weeks' War (1866), and France in the
a war
against
Franco-Prussian War (1870 – 71). Through these wars he achieved his goal of a
politically unified Prussian-dominated German Empire of Prussia, Austria, Bavaria,
Saxony & Hanover. Once the empire was established, he became its chancellor.
The "Iron Chancellor" skillfully preserved the peace in Europe through diplomatic
alliances against France. Domestically, he introduced administrative and economic
reforms but sought to preserve the status quo, opposing the Social Democratic
Party and the Catholic church. When Bismarck left office in 1890, the map of
Europe had been changed immeasurably. However, the German Empire, his
greatest achievement, survived him by only 20 years because he had failed to
create an internally unified people.
1) Why is Bismarck seen as the founder of modern Germany?
2) How did he politically unify the Germanic peoples?
3) Why did he struggle to unify the Germanic people socially?
Bellwork Day 4
Red Textbook
1. Pg 634 – Guiseppe Garibaldi – History Maker
2. Pg 636 – Map Italian Unification
3. Pg 651 – Map Russian Empire