Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860-3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jew who formed the World Zionist Organization in 1897 and promoted Jewish aliyah to Ottoman Palestine to their homeland of Israel.
Biography[]
Theodor Herzl was born on 2 May 1860 in Budapest, Austrian Empire to a family of secular Hungarian Jews, and he devoted himself to literature and journalism. After the Dreyfus Affair, Herzl decided to combat anti-Semitism, and he formed the World Zionist Organization in 1897, and he was a major leader of the Zionist movement that emerged in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. His views on an independent Jewish state in Palestine - to be called Israel - led to a rise in Jewish nationalism and eventually Israel's independence in 1948.