Mirrored Neutralities: Spain and Argentina in World War I

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of the Great War on two countries that remained neutral throughout the conflict, Spain and Argentina. It focuses on three aspects that are analyzed from a transnational perspective in order to show a transatlantic space: neutrality as a matter of dispute between pro-Allies and pro-German sectors; the debate about what positions should be assumed in order to guarantee a world without war; and the polemics on the ideas of nations that should prevail in each country. The hard confrontation between two opposing views on the principles on which the country should be sustained and the socio-economic upheaval accelerated the crises of the liberal regimes. Even though they were part of a cycle of crises and revolutions that assumed global characteristics, Spain and Argentina had travelled similar paths and their evolutions had been marked by both national contexts and a shared transnational space.