The worldwide success of the Protocols dates from 1919 to 1921; after the widespread slaughter in World War I, the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the risings in Germany, many people felt impelled to discover a "hidden cause" for such tragic and momentous events. The text was widely circulated during the Russian civil war by propagandists seeking to incite the masses against the "Jewish Revolution," and undoubtedly contributed to the extensive pogroms perpetrated in southern Russia between 1918 and 1920. After the defeat of the White armies, Russian MmigrMs publicized the Protocols in the West. Translations followed, but most reputable European newspapers, such as The Times of London, questioned their authenticity. In 1921 the English journalist Philip Graves pointed out the close similarity between the text of the Protocols and Joly's pamphlet; from then on, balanced and responsible circles refused to take them seriously. This was no bar to an enormous circulation of the text, which was translated into all the main world languages. In the United States it was even sponsored (until 1927) by the influential and popular Henry Ford I.

However, well before the Nazi rise to power, the Protocols found the largest number of adherents in Germany. The theory of the occult power of the Jews' sworn enemies of German-Christian culture, perfectly suited those reactionary propagandists who attributed Germany's defeat to "a stab in the back." Right from the start the Nazi Party propagated this theme. The Weltdienst organization of Erfurt was specially formed to diffuse it and to strengthen ties with anti-Semites in other countries. In Berne in 1934 the Jewish community of Switzerland brought the distributors of the Protocols to trial, establishing in court that the work was a forgery, but this did nothing to diminish the zeal of its propagators. During World War II, the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion became an implicit justification for the genocide of the Jews; and Nazi propaganda relied on them until the last days of the Third Reich. Although since 1945 no more than bibliographical curiosity in the majority of civilized countries, the Protocols have been reissued in numerous Arab states and President Nasser of Egypt publicly. vouched for their authenticity. A Spanish edition, published in 1963, was probably an attempt to prevent the revision of the Catholic Church's traditional attitude toward the Jews at the Ecumenical Council Vatican II.

Research by Colin Holmes, a lecturer in economic history of Sheffield University, has revealed the source which enabled Philip Graves to expose the Protocols as a forgery. They were given to Graves by a Russian emigre, Michael Raslovleff, who fled to Constantinople after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Raslovleff, a self-confessed anti-Semite, gave the information to Graves because he was unwilling to "give a weapon of any kind to the Jews, whose friend I have never been."

He had early begun research in Anglo-Jewish history, which he continued throughout his life. He wrote the centennial life of Sir Moses Montefiore (1884), was one of the organizers of the Anglo-Jewish Historical Exhibition of 1887, and founded the Jewish Historical Society of England in 1893 (serving repeatedly as its president). His principal work was on the "middle period" of Anglo-Jewish history (after the expulsion of 1290) and on the resettlement. His contributions, based almost wholly on original sources, were of primary importance and placed the study of the subject on a new basis. These researches attracted Wolf to the history of the Marranos. He edited reports of trials of Jewish interest from the Canary Islands Inquisition records and in 1925 prepared a report on the contemporary Marranos of Portugal, a historical contribution of great importance. He contributed a most important article to the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica on anti-Semitism, on the history of which he was the recognized authority in the English-speaking world. In the non-Jewish sphere he wrote a life of the English statesman Lord Ripon (1921). During the last 30 years of his life, he was hampered by almost total blindness (only partly relieved by an operation) but triumphantly overcame it.