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the tour de france bicycle race is one of europe's most beloved and popular sporting contests hello
every year since 1903 except during the two world wars the race pits 20-22 international
teams against a gruelling 21-stage course winding through some of the toughest terrain in france
and neighboring countries a major event on both the european and global sporting calendar the race
attracts an estimated 1 billion television viewers worldwide and millions of live spectators who
gather along the course to cheer other contestants while the idea of a major cycling race in france
that nation long obsessed with the bicycle might seem like a bit of a no-brainer in reality the
tour de france owes its entire existence to one of the greatest political scandals
in french history this is the unlikely story of how the infamous dreyfus affair led to the
creation of the world's greatest bicycle race alfred dreyfuss was born on october 9
1859 in malouz in the french region of al sat the youngest of nine children born to wealthy textile
manufacturers raphael and jeanette dreyfuss in 1877 dreyfus decided to pursue a military
career and enrolled at the ecole polytechnique in paris graduating as a sub-lieutenant in 1880
he then underwent training to become an artillery officer rising to the rank of captain by 1889.
that same year he was made adjutant to the director at the state arsenal in borge while
in 1891 he married 20 year old lucy hadimar who soon wore him two children while everything
appeared to be going rather well for the young officer there was a bit of an unfortunate problem
alfred rapis was jewish the rampant anti-semitism which plagued the french third republic was driven
by a variety of factors most notably france's defeat in the franco-prussian war of 1870 to 1871.
this humiliation deeply scarred the nation and it led to the rise of a virulent brand of
militaristic ultra nationalism known as revolution another key factor was the 1892 panama scandal
in which the french government lost nearly half a billion francs to monetary corruption
during its unsuccessful attempt to build the panama canal at the heart of the scandal were
two german jewish bankers baron jacques renach and cornelius hurs whose involvement along with
the general prosperity and influence of jews and french society fueled conspiracy theories
about the disloyalty of jews and the existence of a nefarious international jewish lobby dropus
would come face to face with the anti-sedimentism after being admitted to paris's prestigious war
college in 1889. dreyfuss was expected to do well but at his college examination review in
1882 the head of the review panel general beaufort declared that jews were not desired in the army
general staff and awarded dreyfus poor marks for character and likability this resulted in drapis
graduating only ninth in his class but things were about to get much much worse in september 1894 the
french military intelligence service infiltrated a french housekeeper known as madame bastian into
the german embassy in paris she soon came across a torn up note in a waste paper basket which
she turned over to her handlers the note which became known as the border was addressed to max
von schwarzkopfen the german military attache at the embassy and indicated that confidential
documents regarding the design of a new french artillery gun would soon be handed over to germany
the intelligence service immediately launched an investigation to uncover the author of the
note quickly zeroing in on jewish captain alfred dreyfus however the evidence connecting dreifus to
the bordero was non-existent with numerous experts including alphos bertien the inventor of the mug
shot and other forensic techniques testifying that drivers handwriting did not match the note
nevertheless on october 13th 1894 general august mercier the minister of war summoned drovers to
his office for a plainclothes inspection it was a trap with mercy forcing drivers to write down
a dictated letter based on the bordero in order to extract a de facto written confession the
head of the investigation major august dupatti de klem even handed dreifers a pistol and suggested
he commit suicide to preserve his honor dreifus refused declaring that he would prefer to live to
establish his innocence two days later drivers was arrested and imprisoned the military trial
of alfred dreyfus began on december 19 1894. the proceedings marked by widespread distortion
obfuscation and irregular procedure created a media circus with anti-semitic groups and
newspapers pointing to drivers alleged guilt as proof of the disloyalty of all french jews
while dreyfuss maintained his innocence throughout on december 22nd he was convicted of espionage and
sentenced to life in prison on devil's island the infamous penal colony in french guiana
the following january dreifus was subjected to further humiliation in the form of military
degradation a public ceremony in which the badges of rank were tore from his uniform and his sword
snapped in half he was then transported by ship to south america arriving at devil's island on april
13 1895 there the matter might have rested if not for one major jour picar the newly appointed head
of military intelligence in march 1896 picard discovered among many documents stolen from the
german embassy a series of letters and telegrams written between max von schwarzkopen the german
military attache and a french major named charles walson esterhazy to because surprise
esterhazy's handwriting exactly matched that of the infamous border letter used to commit drivers
picar immediately launched his own investigation and soon determined that while sin esterhazy his
career stalling and deeply in debt was selling french secrets to germany but as such a revelation
would be deeply embarrassing for the french military establishment in 1897 the french general
staff transferred pika to tunisia and north africa in an effort to silence him picard nevertheless
managed to present his findings to french lawyers and politicians blowing the driver's affair
wide open in 1898 an ex-lover of esterhazy made public letters in which the major expressed his
hatred of france which resulted in his arrest the french army general staff not wishing to see
their 1895 judgment against drivers called into question intervened to have esterhazy tried in a
closed military court despite the ample evidence against him on january 11 1898 yesterday he was
acquitted on all charges and released sparking anti-semitic riots in the streets of paris
the ensuing scandal rocked the nation dividing france into two bitterly opposed camps on the one
side were the anti-driver sides composed mainly of catholics monarchists and other conservatives who
backed drivers conviction and the army's stance against the perceived threat of international
jews on the other were the progressive dreyfassads who saw the conviction as a travesty of justice
and a betrayal of french republican values and sought to reform the catholic church and bring
the military under democratic control among the ranks of the dre facades were a number of
prominent artists and intellectuals including writers sanital france marcel proust and
emily zola on january 13 1898 zola published an open letter titled jacuzz on the front page of the
newspaper oro this accused the ministry of war of covering up its mishandling of the dreyfus affair
zola's intention was to provoke a libel trial so the previously concealed facts of the case could
be aired in open court but fortunately zola's plan backfired on february 23 1898 he was convicted of
libel and sentenced to a year's imprisonment and three thousand frank fine zola fled to england
where he spent the following year in exile however thanks to zola's open letter and the dogged
efforts of the dreifus family the dreyfussard movement at last began to pick up steam in august
1898 the infamous bordero note was revealed to be a crude forgery fabricated by one major uber
josef henry of the military intelligence section following major horry's confession and subsequent
suicide a new left-wing government coalition led by president renee wilder rousseau recalled
alfred dreyfuss from devil's island for a re-trial after a second military court martial in september
1899 once again convicted drivers of espionage president rousseau aware of how the scandal was
tearing the country apart intervened and granted dreyfus an official pardon in july 1906 civilian
court of appeals overturned the 1899 conviction while the french parliament passed a bill formally
reinstating drivers into the army however drivers time on devil's island had taken a toll on his
health and the following year he retired from the army and entered the reserves he was called
to service during the first world war serving as a commander of an ammunition supply column before
retiring as a lieutenant colonel alfred dreifus died at the age of 75 on july 12 1935 exactly
29 years to the day after his exoneration the french army however would not publicly declare his
innocence until 1995. the drover's affair would cast a long and complicated shadow over france's
20th century on the one hand drivers ultimate exoneration was seen as a vindication of the
french republican values of justice and liberty and directly contributed to the passing of a 1905
law officially separating church and state on the other hand the affair resulted in the hardening of
and anti-semitic sentiment within the french armed forces and laid the groundwork for the
right-wing vichy government participation in the holocaust during the second world war but
by now you're probably wondering what on earth does any of this have to do with the tour de
france well the driver's affair just happened to coincide with the invention of the modern safety
bicycle which quickly took france and the rest of europe by storm as bicycle mania gripped the
french people and races of all kinds popped up across the country new sporting newspapers and
magazines appeared to feed the public's insatiable thirst for all things cycling the first and most
successful of these publications was lavello launched in 1892 by editor pierre gifford while
the dreifus affair was raging before a staunch left-wing driver assad used his publication to
publicly air his political views this incensed a number of right-wing anti-driver sards who
advertised in the magazine including tire manufacturer eduard michelin and car manufacturers
gasfar clemore and albert diehl in 1900 deon withdrew his advertisements from lavello and
established his own publication le ortovelo with the intention of driving his political rival out
of business le alto vello later simply lauter was printed on yellow paper to distinguish it from
lavello's green paper this decision as we'll later see was to have a surprising impact on the whole
world of cycling unfortunately for its first two years of publication la alto velo struggled to
reach even a quarter of its rival circulation in november 1902 dior held an emergency meeting
with his editor or reedus garage during which a young reporter named jaya lebertra suggested de
grace sponsor a cross-country bicycle race to help promote the magazine though initially skeptical
disgrunch eventually agreed and the first tour de france was held in january 1903. unlike the modern
event which features 21 150-mile stages over 23 days the 1903 tour was held in six 250-mile stages
over 19 days with the competitors cycling from paris to lyon marseille toulouse bordeaux
and north before returning to paris in contrast to today's international teams the
competitors were mostly french with a smattering of belgiums german swiss and italians among them
the race also had no alpine stages the roads along the course were mostly unpaved and the
use of modern doraleous gears was forbidden of the 60 competitors only 21 finished the race with the
champion frenchman maurice garror winning by over three hours to hori disgrace and albert dion's
surprise the tour de france was a massive hit with nearly a hundred thousand spectators gathering at
the finish line to cheer the competitors on in the wake of the first race circulation of
le aldo vella went through the roof soaring from twenty five thousand to sixty five thousand by the
following year deskgronge and dion had finally succeeded in their goal of putting their rival
level out of business the tour de france did much to stir up the french people's interest and
pride in their country with historians jean-luc beauf and y've lenard claiming that most people
had little idea of the shape and geography of france before maps of the race began appearing
in lao tovelo the first daughter of france proved so popular that another race was immediately
scheduled for the following year the 1904 tour however was to foreshadow much of the rampant
cheating and corruption for which the race would later become infamous some competitors secretly
received tows or rides from automobiles while others hired compasses to place glass or nails
on the road or to just beat up rival cyclists after being assaulted by one such angry mob 1903
tour winner maurice garron declared i'll win the tour de france provided i'm not murdered
before we get to paris and you thought cheating today was bad the tour de france quickly became
a french cultural institution while autobella continued to go from strength to strength
reaching a peak circulation of 85 000 by 1933. the publication which was sympathetic to the nazis and
the collaborationist vichy regime remained in print until 1945 when it was shut down by the
victorious allies the magazine was resurrected the following year under the name le creep or
the team and remains in print to this very day and that is the unlikely story of how one of france's
greatest political scandals led to one of her most beloved sporting events while this bizarre
origin is today long forgotten the legacy of the dreifus affair lives on in the traditional yellow
vest worn by the lead tour de france cyclist a color chosen in 1919 to match the yellow pages
of the auto fellow magazine so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did
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