How did conquering empires cause the Jewish Diaspora and influence modern Judaism?

Answer 1

Conquering empires, namely the Babylonians and (later) Rome, caused the Jewish diaspora by overrunning Judea (Israel) and making it untenable for the Jews to remain there.

While the Babylonians exiled the Jews outright, the Romans did not force the Jews out of Judea. Rather, they expelled them from Jerusalem only; and the rest of Judea lost its Jews slowly, over a period of centuries, as living there became too harsh.

How was Judaism affected?

To a certain extent, the diaspora caused the various Jewish communities to take on minor aspects of their host countries.

The religion itself was affected little, if at all, since all Jews share the same Torah and Talmud, and differences within halakhah (Jewish laws) are relatively small. In addition, the Jews were dissuaded from assimilating because the Romans were the polar opposite of Judaism; plus the fact that some of the greatest Roman, Christian and Muslim historians spewed diatribes of hate against the Jews.

However, in secondary matters of culture such as pronunciation, mannerisms, and introduction of new vocabulary, every community is influenced somewhat by the others among whom they dwell; so some traits of our regions of residence have rubbed off on us. Examples are the differences in pronunciation and accent (for the Hebrew alphabet), differences in dress, and minor differences in customs.