The idea of a Jewish conspiracy theory has been used by various governments to incite anti-Jewish pogroms and divert attention away from its own blunders. This has been done most extensively in Russia(which is probably responsible for the spreading, and may be even the writing, of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion) during the middle of the 19th century, causing hundreds of deaths. The Russian pogroms spurred an immigration movement, directed mostly to Israel (where it urged the beginning of a true Zionism movement) and the United States.