page_title: Louis Lépine
section_title: The Dreyfus Affair
hierarchical_section_title: Louis Lépine / The Dreyfus Affair
caption_attribution_description: English: French Louis Lépine as governor of AlgeriaFrançais&#160;: Louis Lépine, représenté en 1897dans la revue "Les Annales politiques et littéraires" dans ses fonctions de gouverneur de l'Algérie.
context_page_description: Louis Jean-Baptiste Lépine was a lawyer, politician and inventor who was Préfet de Police with the Paris Police Prefecture from 1893 to 1897 and again from 1899 to 1913. He earned the nickname of "The Little Man with the Big Stick" for his skill in handling large Parisian crowds. He was responsible for the modernisation of the French Police Force. Under Lépine the study of forensic science as a tool of detection became standard practise.
context_section_description: .
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  Lépine succeeded Jules Cambon as Governor-General of Algeria in September 1897, serving less than a year in the post. He was recalled to Paris as the Dreyfus Affair began to unravel the Third Republic. In 1894 Alfred Dreyfus, an Alsatian of Jewish descent, had been found guilty of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly having communicated French military secrets to Germany. Lépine had officiated at the original trial. When two years later it became apparent that Dreyfus was innocent, as another culprit had been found, a retrial was ordered. The military court once again found Dreyfus guilty on the basis of false documents fabricated by French counter-intelligence officers. There was widespread dissent against the proceedings that culminated in a vehement public protestation from Émile Zola, the novelist. Another retrial was subsequently ordered, and this time Dreyfus was freed, although he was not exonerated until 1906.
  France seemed to be at the start of civil unrest in 1899, and once again Louis Lépine was recalled to help ease the situation. Again and again Paris appeared to be on the point of violent protestations, but through wise diplomacy and carefully organised policing, Lépine managed to avoid the worst of times. He attempted to limit the role of the army as a force of internal order by handling most situations with police and gendarmerie alone. During these febrile times France faced the possibility of a military government and whilst there were occasions when Lépine required military assistance to control demonstrations it is credit to his reforms that these were rare and that the gendamerie largely controlled the civil strife.
caption: Governor of Algeria (1897-1899)
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