Many Sides to an Intellectual: Ramiro de Maeztu during the Great War

Abstract

Ramiro de Maeztu’s relationship with the First World War was one of the most complex of the Spanish intellectual scene. Having been living in London since 1905, at the start of the Great War Maeztu was a participant in both the ongoing Spanish projects to regenerate the country, and in the cultural processes that Britain was undergoing during the Edwardian period. This allows us to understand the various different aspects of his reaction to the war: on the one hand, Maeztu contributed to the efforts of the Spanish «aliadófilos» to orient their fellow countrymen towards sympathy with the Allies. He was also sent to the Western Front a number of times as war correspondent, writing a series of influential chronicles that contributed to the British propaganda efforts within Spain. But Maeztu also carried out a profound ideological reflection apropos of the war, one that is reflected in his articles for the English weekly The New Age. This article brings together these different aspects in order to explain the aspects that link them, emphasizing the polyvalence of Maeztu’s adopted role as a public intellectual in the early twentieth century.