From Theodor Herzl’s founding vision to the Balfour Declaration, the British Mandate, the 1948 War and the Six Day War — the Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the most consequential and contested stories of the twentieth century. These fourteen episodes of Explaining History trace the full arc, from the origins of political Zionism in nineteenth-century Europe through to Israel’s complex place in the Cold War order.
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Zionism and the British Mandate (1882–1936)
Political Zionism emerged from the crisis of European Jewish life in the late nineteenth century. This section traces the movement from Herzl’s founding texts through the Balfour Declaration and the bitter realities of the British Mandate — and the Arab revolt that exploded in 1936.
Theodor Herzl
Herzl is credited as the father of political Zionism, yet he died nearly half a century before the state of Israel was founded. This episode explores how his ideas emerged from the climate of European antisemitism in the 1880s and 1890s and how they evolved into a mass movement.
The Balfour Declaration
Why did British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour promise Zionists a Jewish homeland in Palestine in 1917? This episode untangles the competing deals Britain made simultaneously with the Arabs, the French and the Zionists — and what those contradictions would cost.
The Mandate System, Palestine, Syria and Iraq
After the Ottoman collapse, Britain and France carved up the Middle East. Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq went to Britain; Syria and Lebanon to France. This episode explores the tensions built into the Mandate system from the start — and the broken promises to Arab nationalists.
The Arabs and the Palestine Mandate
Mass Jewish immigration under the Mandate placed enormous economic pressure on Palestine’s Arab population. Land sales and displacement became flashpoints, and by 1936 the Arabs rose in revolt against the British. This episode traces the origins and course of that uprising.
Orde Wingate and Palestine
In 1936, British officer Orde Wingate — a passionate Christian Zionist — was posted to Palestine to suppress the Arab revolt. His partnership with the Haganah laid down counter-insurgency tactics that would shape Israeli military doctrine for decades. A fascinating and troubling figure.
The Road to Partition (1937–1948)
By the late 1930s, the Mandate was breaking down under the weight of European Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. The Second World War transformed the question of Palestine into an international crisis, forcing Britain to choose between Arab states it needed and Jewish survivors it could not ignore. The result was partition — and war.
Poland, Palestine and Zionism
In the mid-1930s, the Polish government contemplated mass deportation of its large Jewish population to the British Mandate. This episode explores the collaboration between Polish nationalists and Zionist revisionists — led by Jabotinsky — that made the idea seem, briefly, achievable.
Britain, America and Palestine 1939–42
During the Second World War, Palestine was a constant pressure point on Anglo-American diplomacy. The legacies of the Mandate system, combined with American domestic politics and the fate of European Jews, gave both Zionist ambitions and Arab nationalist resistance new urgency.
David Ben Gurion and Palestine 1945–48
The rising star of the Zionist movement by 1945, Ben Gurion was a mercurial figure whose relationships with Chaim Weizmann and Menachem Begin were often antagonistic. This episode explores his leadership of the push for statehood in the critical final years of the Mandate.
America, Palestine and Jewish Immigration 1945–48
At the war’s end, an American survey recommended mass Jewish immigration into Palestine. Truman embraced the idea — partly from idealism, partly with calculating electoral logic. This episode examines how American domestic politics shaped one of the defining international crises of the post-war world.
Menachem Begin and Irgun
Towards the end of the Second World War, Menachem Begin’s Irgun launched its own war against British authority in Palestine. The bombing of the King David Hotel and other operations radicalised the conflict and forced Britain towards partition. Begin’s methods divided the Zionist movement — and would shape Israeli politics for a generation.
Britain’s Withdrawal from Palestine: 1944–48
In 1948, Britain ended its Mandate and withdrew, leaving behind a civil war between Jewish and Arab communities that immediately escalated into a full invasion by the Arab League. This episode examines the consequences of Britain’s handling of Jewish immigration and the decisions that shaped Israel’s founding.
Israel and the Arab World (1948–1973)
Israel’s founding in 1948 triggered a war that would define the region for decades. These episodes examine the making of Israeli national identity, the Six Day War of 1967 and the Cold War dimensions that gave the conflict global significance.
Palestine, India and Britain: Two Partitions and the End of Empire
In 1947 and 1948, Britain executed two rushed departures — from India and Palestine — each leaving catastrophic violence in its wake. This episode draws the comparison between the two partitions, exploring what they reveal about the end of British imperial power and the cost of empire’s unravelling.
War, Nation and Identity in Israel 1948–73
How did Israelis construct a sense of national identity through war? This episode explores the history of Israel’s national consciousness across the 1948 War of Independence, the Suez Crisis and the Six Day War — and how repeated military success shaped Israeli politics, society and its relationship with the Palestinian question.
The USSR and the Aftermath of the Six Day War
Israel’s devastating victory in June 1967 destroyed Arab air forces in hours and permanently shifted the Middle East’s balance of power. This episode examines the shockwaves that ran through the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite states — and what the Six Day War meant for Cold War dynamics in the region.
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Related Collections
Further Reading
These articles from the Explaining History archive go deeper on the history behind these episodes:
- Poland, Palestine and Zionism — How the experience of Polish Jews shaped the Zionist movement and the push for a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
- Orde Wingate and Palestine — The eccentric British officer who trained Jewish fighters in Mandatory Palestine — and the legacy he left behind.
- The 1949 Armistice Agreements — How the ceasefires that ended the 1948 war created the borders — and the frozen conflict — that still define the region.
- The Sykes-Picot Agreement — A longform article on the secret 1916 Anglo-French carve-up of the Ottoman Middle East and its role in shaping the conditions for the Arab-Israeli conflict.
