Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
| Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
16 December 1847 Paris, France |
| Died | 21 May 1923 (aged 75) Harpenden, United Kingdom |
| Allegiance | France, Germany |
| Service/branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1870–1898 |
| Rank | Major |
| Commands held | 74th Line Infantry Regiment |
| Battles/wars | Franco-Prussian War |
Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy (16 December 1847 – 21 May 1923) was an officer in the French Army from 1870 to 1898. He gained notoriety as a spy for the German Empire and the actual perpetrator of the act of treason of which Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully accused and convicted in 1894 (see Dreyfus affair).
After evidence against Esterhazy was discovered and made public, he was eventually subjected to a closed military trial in 1898, only to be officially found not guilty. A revisionist theory raises the possibility that Esterhazy may have been a double agent working for the French counter-espionage service and that this could help to explain the degree of protection he received (see section below). This thesis has not gained general acceptance, the consensus being that the high command saw its own credibility as bound up with upholding the earlier conviction of Dreyfus.
Esterhazy retired from the military with the rank of Major in 1898—presumably under pressure—and fled by way of Brussels to the United Kingdom, where he lived in the village of Harpenden in Hertfordshire until his death in 1923.
Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy was born in Paris, France, the son of General Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy who distinguished himself as division commander in the Crimean War. He inherited the prominent Hungarian family name of Esterházy through his paternal grandfather (a Nîmes merchant) who was born out of wedlock and brought up under the name of Walsin, but was later acknowledged by his mother after the French Revolution of 1848. This branch of the Esterházys settled in France at the end of the 1600s and was involved in the military, namely in the organisation of hussar regiments.
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