The Third Aliyah was in many ways a continuation of the Second Aliyah, which was halted by the outbreak of the First World War.  During the Third Aliyah some 35,000 Jews arrived, the majority from Russia and Poland, with a smaller number from Lithuania and Rumania.

Primary Motivations

The Third Aliyah was spurred both by the hardships of the Jews in their countries of origin, and by the boosting of nationalist aspirations by the Balfour Declaration and establishment of the British Mandate.  Social and political upheavals in Europe also contributed to the motivation; the emergence of new nations following the First World War reinforced the aspirations for national revival among young Jews, who were encouraged by the relative successful integration of the immigrants of the Second Aliyah.

Main Enterprises 

Immigrants of the Third Aliyah continued the efforts of the Second Aliyah, establishing new institutions and organizations, as well as new forms of settlement. Among others, they established the General Federation of Workers and contributed to the founding of the Hagana.  The ideal of “Hebrew Labor” was expressed by the construction of buildings and roads.  Immigrants from the Third Aliyah continued to strengthen the existing agricultural infrastructure and even developed new forms of settlement which became kibbutzim and the moshavim ovdim.