The First World War and the Jews

Just decades after the experience of intense persecution and struggle for recognition that marked the end of the nineteenth century, Jews across the globe found themselves at an unprecedented crossroads. The frenzied military mobilisation of European societies from 1914, along with the outbreak of revolution in Russia, the collapse of the Central European empires and the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East had a profound impact on Jewish communities worldwide. The First World War thus constitutes a seminal but surprisingly under-researched moment in the evolution of modern Jewish history. This introductory chapter explores the variety of social, cultural, and political phenomena that combined to the make the ‘war to end all wars’ such a key turning point in the Jewish experience of the twentieth century.