Health, there is this attractive idea of “them” – Tzedukim, Reformim, Tzionim who created some problems. Well, all these movements started at some moment from inside of Jewish community – in response to some other test that Hashem challenged us with. Of course, everyone has a free will, but it is fair to ask whether Jewish community as a whole didn’t fully stand to the test, not just the peshayim. To again quote R Salanter – when someone does not learn well in beit midrash it affects a professor in Berlin. Anther example – Chofetz Chaim not greeting a melamed who did not accept Trotsky as a kid.
To your example, R Berel Wein traces zioni-religious fight in Israel to the animosity between kahal and community coming from the tragedy of Cantonists that Russia forced the communities to provide – and the choice would often fall on poor and orphans. And while the Czar has most of the blame, many kehilot, such as Vilna, were weakened by chasidim/misnaged split that Russian government exploited.