ABSTRACT
Theodor Herzl vision of an independent homeland for Jews and his work to realize it yielded a powerful movement by the beginning of the twentieth century. The Dreyfus Affair led Theodor Herzl to conclude that only the physical withdrawal of Jews from Europe could protect them from injustice. Theodor Herzl traveled to Constantinople in 1896 in the hope of negotiating an agreement with the Ottoman sultan but was completely unsuccessful. Theodor Herzl also failed to win support for his movement from the wealthy Jewish Rothschild family in Europe. Theodor Herzl left behind a movement that would culminate in the founding of modern Israel. The increased repression of Jews in twentieth-century Eastern Europe, which exploded during the Holocaust under adolf Hitler, convinced many leaders that immediate resettlement was essential for the survival of Jewry. Zionist leaders were able to obtain a promise from the British for the increased settlement of Jews.
