Vicente Massot's essay re-examines Argentina's independence through politics and diplomacy

Vicente Massot unveiled his latest essay, "Guerra, política y diplomacia. La independencia reconsiderada," a work dedicated to re-evaluating the complex process of Argentina's independence. The presentation, held at the CUDES Institute of Culture, drew a notable audience of historians, academics, and cultural figures, including Luis Alberto Romero and Natalio Botana, who joined Massot in discussing the book.

In his essay, Massot proposes a "revisionist interpretation" of Argentina's independence, questioning the traditional narrative of a homogeneous political project driving the events of 1810-1816. He emphasizes the coexistence of conflicting projects, monarchist and republican, centralist and federalist, along with persistent internal conflicts and divergent views on international alliances. Massot posits that the independence movement was, in essence, a continuous political dispute.

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The men of Spain went to bed one way and the next day the one in charge was no longer there.

A central theme of the essay is the analysis of these internal conflicts and their impact on the eventual independence. Massot contends that the wars of the period reflect a lack of unified leadership with common objectives, contrasting this with other revolutionary processes. He argues against a linear continuity between the May Revolution and independence, asserting that Argentina's establishment as a nation-state was the outcome of a far more protracted and intricate political journey.

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The birth of a nation is a succession of geological layers.

Massot highlights the crucial role of the international context, particularly the power vacuum created by the Spanish monarchy's crisis following the 1808 abdications in Bayonne. He suggests that this external shock, coupled with the interests of other nations, served as the true catalyst for the revolution. "The men of Spain went to bed one way and the next day the one in charge was no longer there," Massot remarked, challenging the notion of a consolidated Argentine nationality between 1810 and 1816 and likening the birth of a nation to "a succession of geological layers."

Reviewers Luis Alberto Romero and Natalio Botana praised the essay for its originality in examining independence through the lenses of politics and diplomacy, moving beyond traditional interpretations focused on a pre-existing nation. Botana described the work as "an admirable essay of historical interpretation," written in the tradition of 20th-century Spanish essays, and highlighted Massot's focus on the crisis of legitimacy stemming from the Spanish Empire's collapse.

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an admirable essay of historical interpretation