History of Zionism: Origins, Struggle, and the State of Israel

Introduction: What Is Zionism?

Zionism is the political movement that arose in Europe in the late 19th century with the aim of creating a Jewish state in Palestine. It asserted that the Jewish people were a separate nation entitled to a country of their own, and it succeeded in that objective with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Since then, the Zionist movement has concentrated on strengthening Israel and encouraging Jews from around the world to migrate and settle in the Jewish state. This paper traces the history of Zionism from its origins to the present day. The word "Zionism" itself is derived from Zion, the hill on which the Temple of Jerusalem was located.

Origins and Background

Although the Zionist political movement started in the late 19th century, its roots lie as far back as 70 AD, when the Great Jewish Revolt against the Romans ended with the destruction of the Temple and the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem. The land of Israel was renamed Palestine, and Jews were barred from entering Jerusalem until the city was captured by the Muslims from Byzantine control in 638 AD.

The Jewish religious tradition held that Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) had been given to the ancient Israelites by God, and that it was God's will that the Jewish people would one day return to their homeland. Jews of the Diaspora (exile) also linked such a return to the coming of a Messiah — a savior whom God would send to lead them to the Holy Land. For this reason, many religious Jews opposed the Zionist movement and considered it a blasphemy to establish a homeland through human effort without divine intervention.

Jews had lived in small groups in different parts of the world since their expulsion from Jerusalem and had suffered periodic persecution due to a long tradition of anti-Semitism. Throughout the centuries, the Jews maintained their separate identity, clinging to the belief that they were God's chosen people, ordained to one day return to the Promised Land.

Jewish Nationalism: Precursor of the Modern Zionist Movement

Europe was swept by the ideas of Enlightenment and liberalism in the 18th and 19th centuries. Various national struggles — such as those for German and Italian unification and for Polish and Hungarian independence — were also taking shape at the time. A number of European Jews were inspired by these ideals of Enlightenment, giving rise to a class of secular Jews who propagated the idea of Jewish nationalism as opposed to Jewish religious orthodoxy.

Some secular Jews, such as the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, initiated the Haskala (Hebrew for "enlightenment") movement and urged the assimilation of Jews into Western secular culture. The attempts at assimilation, however, proved to be a false dawn, as a fresh wave of anti-Semitism in Europe and Russia forced Jewish leaders to rethink their strategy. The hope that Jews could simply blend into broader European society was becoming increasingly untenable.

Start of the Modern Zionist Movement

The second half of the 19th century saw anti-Semitic parties emerging in Germany and Austria-Hungary. In Russia, the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881 unleashed vicious anti-Jewish pogroms. The event that most directly triggered the start of the modern Zionist movement, however, was the Dreyfus Affair. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French Army, was falsely accused and convicted of treason — a case that exposed the depth of anti-Semitic sentiment even in the ostensibly liberal French Republic.

An Austrian Jewish journalist named Theodor Herzl, who until that point had been a supporter of Jewish assimilation, covered the Dreyfus trial. Witnessing the injustice of the proceedings and the anti-Semitic passions it aroused in France and across Europe convinced Herzl that the dream of assimilation was not realistic. He concluded that emigration to a state of their own was the only solution for the majority of Jews. Herzl observed later that the Dreyfus Affair had turned him into a Zionist.

Herzl published his famous pamphlet The Jewish State in February 1896. The Jewish question, he argued, was not a social or religious question but a "national question" that could be solved only by making it "a political world question to be discussed and settled by the civilized nations of the world in council." Many Jewish intellectuals ridiculed Herzl's ideas, but they struck a resonant chord among ordinary Jews, and Herzl soon became the leading figure of the Zionist movement.

In 1897, Herzl organized the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, attended by nearly 200 delegates. The Congress formulated the basic platform of the Zionist movement, known as the Basel Program, which defined Zionism's goal as securing "for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law." Herzl noted in his diary afterward: "At Basel I founded the Jewish State. Perhaps in five years, but certainly in fifty, everyone will know it." Exactly fifty years — and some months — later, the State of Israel was born. The Congress also founded a permanent World Zionist Organization (WZO) and authorized it to establish branches in every country with a substantial Jewish population.

After failing to convince Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Hamid II to grant a separate Jewish homeland within his empire, Herzl sought British support. The British offered the so-called "Uganda Scheme" — the possibility of a Jewish settlement in East Africa. Herzl's initial consideration of the offer caused a split within the Zionist movement, with several members accusing him of betrayal. Deeply hurt by the criticism, Herzl suffered a heart attack and died shortly thereafter.