The Great Jewish Revolt

After the Roman Conquest of Judea in 63B.C. a new group of Jewish rebels called Zealots had risen up in number. After Caligula started hand picking the High Priests, the Jews became even more infuriated and the moderate Jews even began to side with the Zealots especially after Caligula threatened to burn down the sacred Temple of Solomon. Further Roman infractions such as exploiting themselves in the temple, burning a Torah, and letting Gentiles live in Israel brought on the revolt. In 66B.C. the last roman procurator of Judea stole a lot of silver from the Temple causing riots in Judea and eventually the overthrowing of the Garrison in all of Judea. An army from Syria was soon sent down to crush the revolt but that army too was crushed. This Jewish victory though perhaps crushed the Jews chances of winning as well, because they believed they could now defeat any Roman force. Soon after the Roman's sent a force of 60,000 men to Galilee where they crushed the Jewish garrison and slaughtered over 100,000 men women and children. The Jews then threw themselves into a civil war between the moderates and the radicals almost killing themselves off before the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Jerusalem soon fell and the slaughter of over 1 million Jews soon followed. Israel would not gain political independence again until 1948 when it was established by the United Nations.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt.html