Der Judenstaat in the context of "Zionism"

Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the Zionist Organization and promoted Jewish immigration to Palestine in an effort to form a Jewish state. Due to his Zionist work, he is known in Hebrew as Chozeh HaMedinah (חוֹזֵה הַמְדִינָה), lit. 'Visionary of the State'. He is specifically mentioned in the Israeli Declaration of Independence and is officially referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State".

Herzl was born in Pest, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, to a prosperous Neolog Jewish family. After a brief legal career in Vienna, he became the Paris correspondent for the Viennese newspaper Neue Freie Presse. Confronted with antisemitic events in Vienna, he reached the conclusion that anti-Jewish sentiment would make Jewish assimilation impossible, and that the only solution for Jews was the establishment of a Jewish state. In 1896, Herzl published the pamphlet Der Judenstaat, in which he elaborated his visions of a Jewish homeland. His ideas attracted international attention and rapidly established Herzl as a major figure in the Jewish world.

Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in late 19th-century Europe; it primarily seeks to establish and support a Jewish homeland through the colonization of Palestine, which roughly corresponds to the Land of Israel in Judaism—itself central to Jewish history. Zionists wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine with as much land, as many Jews, and as few Palestinian Arabs as possible.

Zionism initially emerged in Central and Eastern Europe as a secular nationalist movement in the late 19th century, in reaction to newer waves of antisemitism and in response to the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. The arrival of Zionist settlers to Palestine during this period is widely seen as the start of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Zionist claim to Palestine was based on the notion that the Jews' historical right to the land outweighed that of the Arabs.

At its broadest, Zionism is a movement that supports the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine by the Jewish people, such as in the form of a Jewish state. While sharing a core belief in the importance of a home for the Jewish people, Zionist beliefs have not been uniform and have varied since they were first conceived in the second half of the 19th century.

Zionist beliefs have been categorized into roughly a dozen varieties by academics. The first Zionists were either political or practical Zionists, as typified by Theodor Herzl, considered the father of the Zionist movement. The rise of socialist movements in the first part of the 20th century resulted in the rise of left-wing Labor Zionism. Synthetic and general Zionists combine the ideas of political and practical Zionists. Liberal Zionists emphasize the importance of Liberalism. Revisionist Zionists accept many tenants of Liberal Zionism but have expanded territorial aims—including parts of Jordan. Religious Zionism views Zionism as an integral to Orthodox Judaism. Cultural Zionism emphasizes a secular approach. Revolutionary Zionism emerged from guerrilla warfare against the British (who oversaw Mandatory Palestine), and attracted both left- and right-wing nationalists. Reform Zionism is associated with Reform Judaism.