His proposals undoubtedly roused an extraordinary enthusiasm, and though he almost completely failed to win to his cause the classes, he rallied the masses with sensational success. He unexpectedly gained the accession of many Jews by race who were indifferent to the religious aspect of Judaism, but he quite failed to convince the leaders of Jewish thought, who from first to last remained (with such conspicuous exceptions as Nordau and Zangwill) deaf to his pleading. The orthodox were at first cool because they had always dreamed of a nationalism inspired by messianic ideals, while the liberals had long come to dissociate those universalistic ideals from all national limitations. Herzl, however, succeeded in assembling several congresses at Basel (beginning in 1897), and at these congresses were enacted remarkable scenes of enthusiasm for the cause and devotion to its leader. At all these assemblies the same ideal was formulated: “the establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine.” Herzl’s personal charm was irresistible. Among his political opponents he had some close personal friends. His sincerity, his eloquence, his tact, his devotion, his power, were recognized on all hands. He spent his whole strength in the furtherance of his ideas. Diplomatic interviews, exhausting journeys, impressive mass meetings, brilliant literary propaganda—all these methods were employed by him to the utmost limit of self-denial. In 1901 he was received by the sultan; the pope and many European statesmen gave him audiences. The British government was ready to grant land for an autonomous settlement in East Africa. This last scheme was fatal to Herzl’s peace of mind. Even as a temporary measure, the choice of an extra-Palestinian site for the Jewish state was bitterly opposed by many Zionists; others (with whom Herzl appears to have sympathized) thought that as Palestine was, at all events momentarily, inaccessible, it was expedient to form a settlement elsewhere. Herzl’s health had been failing and he did not long survive the initiation of the somewhat embittered “territorial” controversy. He died in the summer of 1904, amid the consternation of supporters and the deep grief of opponents of his Zionistic aims.
Herzl was beyond question the most influential Jewish personality of the 19th century. He had no profound insight into the problem of Judaism, and there was no lasting validity in his view that the problem—the thousands of years’ old mystery—could be solved by a retrogression to local nationality. But he brought home to Jews the perils that confronted them; he compelled many a “semi-detached” son of Israel to rejoin the camp; he forced the “assimilationists” to realize their position and to define it; his scheme gave a new impulse to “Jewish culture,” including the popularization of Hebrew as a living speech; and he effectively roused Jews all the world over to an earnest and vital interest in their present and their future. Herzl thus left an indelible mark on his time, and his renown is assured whatever be the fate in store for the political Zionism which he founded and for which he gave his life.
(I. A.)
HERZOG, HANS (1819-1894), Swiss general, was born at Aarau. He became a Swiss artillery lieutenant in 1840, and then spent six years in travelling (visiting England among other countries), before he became a partner in his father’s business in 1846. In 1847 he saw his first active service (as artillery captain) in the short Swiss Sonderbund war. In 1860 he abandoned mercantile pursuits for a purely military career, becoming colonel and inspector-general of the Swiss artillery. In 1870 he was commander-in-chief of the Swiss army, which guarded the Swiss frontier, in the Jura, during the Franco-German War, and in February 1871, as such, concluded the Convention of Verrières with General Clinchant for the disarming and the interning of the remains of Bourbaki’s army, when it took refuge in Switzerland. In 1875 he became the commander-in-chief of the Swiss artillery, which he did much to reorganize, helping also in the re-organization of the other branches of the Swiss army. He died in 1894 at his native town of Aarau.
(W. A. B. C.)
HERZOG, JOHANN JAKOB (1805-1882), German Protestant theologian, was born at Basel on the 12th of September 1805. He studied at Basel and Berlin, and eventually (1854) settled at Erlangen as professor of church history. He died there on the 30th of September 1882, having retired in 1877. His most noteworthy achievement was the publication of the Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche (1853-1868, 22 vols.), of which he undertook a new edition with G. L. Plitt (1836-1880) in 1877, and after Plitt’s death with Albert Hauck (b. 1845). Hauck began the publication of the third edition in 1896 (completed in 22 vols., 1909).
His other works include Joh. Calvin (1843), Leben Ökolampads (1843), Die romanischen Waldenser (1853), Abriss der gesamten Kirchengeschichte (3 vols., 1876-1882, 2nd ed., G. Koffmane, Leipzig, 1890-1892).