Answer: The Zionist movement began and led to the settlement and creation of modern Israel.
Details:
Anti-Semitism was strong in Europe already in the Middle Ages, when Jews were accused of such things as spreading the plague by poisoning wells, or using the blood of murdered Christians to make the matzah for their Passover rituals. The term "anti-Semitism" as a description for hostile opposition to the Jewish people was first used by Wilhelm Marr in 1879 in Germany. Marr supported campaigns against Jews and began using the term "anti-Semitism" as a euphemism for what better might have been called "Jew-hating."
The main Zionist movement was largely secular in nature, focused on establishing a homeland for anyone of Jewish ethnicity. Theodore Herzl is typically credited with getting the secular Zionist movement started with his book, <em>Der Judenstaat </em>("The Jews' State), published in 1896. Herzl also led in the founding of the World Zionist Organization, established by the First World Zionist Congress held in Switzerland in 1897. Convinced that the Jews would never truly be welcomed or assimilated within the countries of Europe, Herzl argued for establishment of their own homeland somewhere. Eventually that "somewhere" became a movement focused on going back to the ancestral land of Israel.
Communism in Russia. In Russia, efforts to build communism began after Tsar Nicholas II lost his power during the February Revolution, and ended with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
Mercantilism created competition between companies, states, and countries. My teacher once gave me the example of a tree cutter making tables. It was about who makes the most profit.
