World War I in the Spanish Antilles (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic): An Intellectual History

Studies on the impact of World War I in Latin America have diversified in the 21st century, showing that the conflict entailed a break in the internal development of Latin American societies due to its economic, diplomatic, and intellectual effects. The foreign-oriented economy and the cosmopolite Antillean elites were strongly affected by the war. Despite the importance of this issue, there is scarce bibliography regarding the Spanish Antilles. The dissemination of the ideas of a new generation of nationalist thinkers in the 1920s should give rise to a new interpretive system that asserts the value of the intellectual circulations, the debates in the press, and the spectacle generated by "Europe's suicide". The comparative method makes it possible to appreciate how intellectual convergences were produced due to the geopolitical situation, despite the different political contexts. In fact, the reforms promoted by the elites, which consisted in continuing to imitate European and American models, were challenged due to interventions by the United Sates, the European tragedy, and the rapid enrichment followed by a deep economic crisis in these three countries.