ectuals, Protestants, freethinkers.
The consolidation of the republic was accompanied by the growth of popular education, the resurgence of socialism, and gradual changes in the political scene. This evolution was hastened and made more dramatic by means of the Dreyfus case. The Dreyfus affair ended in 1899 with a compromise. A number of journalists, notably Emile Zola, turned the affair into a spiritual storm which affected much of the world. In the compromise, Dreyfus was condemned by a second military court "with extenuating circumstances" and was immediately pardoned. In 1906 he was fully reinstated, promoted, and decorated. In spite of the compromise and the time it took, it was clear that those supporting Dreyfus were completely victorious. Waldeck-Rousseau was their political leader, and he offered the model for a method many consider far superior to rigid party divisions--a coalition, as broad as possible, for the purpose of promoting justice and restoring civil peace. The Dreyfus affair accelerated the trend in French political society toward the left, and from 1899 to 1914, the radicals became the dominant party:
Although many ardent Catholics were Dreyfusians, clerical-conserv
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