Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer of Jewish descent who was wrongly convicted of treason in a highly publicized case known as the Dreyfus Affair. He was accused of passing military secrets to the Germans in the late 19th century, but evidence later revealed that he was innocent and had been framed. The case sparked widespread controversy and exposed deep-seated anti-Semitism in French society. Dreyfus's wrongful conviction and subsequent exoneration had a significant impact on French politics and society at the time.