1st Edition
Spain and Argentina in the First World War Transnational Neutralities
This is the first book that analyzes the transnational impact of the Great War simultaneously on two countries, Spain and Argentina, that remained neutral throughout the conflict. Both countries were very relevant in the conception of propaganda and policies of belligerent countries such as France, Germany and Great Britain and showed that the conflict had a global influence and affected deeply local political and cultural processes, even in areas geographically distant from the trenches.
Within this framework, this book is focused on three aspects that are analyzed dynamically throughout the whole war from a transnational perspective: neutrality as a space of dispute between pro-Allies and pro-German sectors and its relation with local politics, the debate about what positions should be assumed in order to guarantee a world without war, and the polemics on the ideas of nations and supra-nations (Hispanism, Latinism, Pan-Americanism). The conclusions of the book highlight that the radicalization that exploded in 1917 in both countries was fundamental in shaping the political radicalization of the last months of the conflict and the postwar period. As happened in Europe, the Great War did not finish in 1918 and its traces continued in the 1920s and 1930s.
1 Introduction: neutralities and transnational history 1
2 Spain and Argentina before 1914 14
3 The outbreak of the war and the question of neutrality 24
4 The war enters both countries 64
5 The year of rupture: 1917 105
6 The end of the war: towards a new world? 152
7 Epilogue: the traces of the war 195
Biography
Maximiliano Fuentes Codera is Associate Professor at the University of Girona.
"Maximiliano Fuentes Codera's new book breaks new ground in applying a transnational lens to the comparative study of neutrality. His study is both refreshing and original, and in juxtaposing Argentinian and Spanish neutrality, he sheds new light on the experiences of both countries, their governments and societies."
Neville Wylie, University of Stirling, UK
“The detailed research and analysis offered means that the book stands as an excellent contribution to the growing historiography on the subject of neutrality in the First World War. Fuentes Codera ably demonstrates the local distinctions of neutrality in Spain and Argentina, whilst simultaneously presenting them in their wider context as part of a larger, transnational phenomenon”
Ben Markham, History. The Journal of the Historical Association
“Fuentes Codera’s work is a most welcome contribution to the fields of transnational cultural history and neutrality, and a must-read for scholars wishing to engage in genuinely global approaches to studying the cultural dimensions of the First World War”
Marina Pérez de Arcos, First World War Studies
