Talk:Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
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[edit] NPOV
His Career: ..."He sank"...this is really not NPOV. Not even close! What became of him after the Dreyfus affair?
At some stage he fled to Britain and attempted an anonymous existence in Harpenden (Station Road), Herts
In this article, the author tries to persuade the reader that Esterhazy was a squanderer and essentially a bad person. He wasn’t truly French, he had no personal ties. His family was Hungarian and he didn’t really earn all of the military valor he received so much as he had the right connections and it was the right time. The author assumes that Esterhazy became a spy because of fate. This assumption overlooks the fact that perhaps it was hatred for France (which he mentions explicitly) or monetary reasons (as he does other despicable things for money). The phrases, “destined to become the prey of treason” as well as “fate decreed” seem unconvincing, particularly after the author describes the terrible things that Esterhazy said about France. It is a very conscious decision to sell secrets of your country to another country. Treason is not something anyone goes about lightly, this is evident in the fact that Esterhazy was very careful about lying to the Germans as well as the French. He had to prove his qualifications to the Germans and maintain innocence among the French. It seems that Esterhazy wasn’t a very good spy in the fact that Germans doubted his qualification and the importance of his information. Based on that fact, it seems odd that he would continue. Perhaps he was already so entangled in treason it was easier to continue, or perhaps he thought he could get more pertinent information. Either way, the article doesn’t really hypothesize. This article also doesn’t mention what Esterhazy was doing during the Dreyfus affair or how and when it was discovered that he was the culprit. It seems that that would have been very interesting and pertinent to include rather than just stating that he was the culprit. While most people have heard of Alfred Dreyfus and the Dreyfus Affair, it seems that few know much about Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. It also fails to discuss how and why Dreyfus was picked as a cover. It seems like it would be interesting to see what the connection between the two is. The article is not completely worthless however. In discussing Esterhazy’s career, it references his own letters wherein he “predict[s] and hope[s] that new disasters were in store [for France],” which is interesting. It would be easy to predict something that you are helping to plan. It seems the author could have placed a stronger emphasis on the connection between this observation and Esterhazy’s role in actually selling military secrets. Prior to becoming a spy, he is described as “plung[ing] afresh into a life of speculation and excess, which soon completed his ruin,” but it does not discuss how particularly he was ruined. He still had the titles of lieutenant, captain, decoration, and major in the French army. It seems that that would be his saving grace as far as his reputation is concerned since he didn’t seem to have much else going for him. Instead of being appreciative of the French army, the author says that he “considered himself wronged,” although it doesn’t say what the wrong specifically was. Overall, the article is an interesting topic but fails to address major questions that epitomize the subject.
[edit] Incomplete
The article seem incomplete; doesn't really address the Dreyfus affair in detail; ends abruptly in 1894; what happened afterward? --FeanorStar7 06:38, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
I received a source that said Esterhazy, although guilty of forging the evidence against Dreyfus and likeley a traitor in other regards, was not actually responsible for the particular crime. The guilty one, in my source (given by a teacher, and so I can't tell you where I found it) was a man named Dubois in the Artillery. He was originally ruled out because he was not on the general staff, while dreyfus was.
[edit] NPOV
As already mentioned, this article definitely is not NPOV and should be rewritten. Unfortunately I have no source material on Esterhazy so I can't do much about it. I'm certain more recent sources then a contemporary edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica can be found. Note, both the French and German wikipedias only have stubs about Esterhazy.--Caranorn 23:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
This article is terribly florid and overwritten. Can someone tone down the melodrama a bit? Darkmind1970 10:01, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Article needs organization. The introduction is better than the career section, but is disorganized.Career needs to be trashed. I've never read anything worse in my life. Elsweyn (talk) 07:52, 7 February 2008 (UTC)
