Abstract

The last one hundred years of Argentine history can be neatly divided in two halves. From 1880 through 1930 it was mainly a success story, a legend of rapid economic growth, of fabulous fortunes made at the top but trickling down the social ladder, of immigration, mobility, and exceptionalism. The country was in the hands of an oligarchy of landowners in dependent association with British capital. But the wealth generated by agrarian exports opened the doors to millions of Southern Europeans that flocked to rapidly growing cities, changed the cultural texture, found new occupations, and entertained new hopes. Social progress turned into political demand, and the general prosperity, coupled with the rulers' liberal bent, allowed the extension of citizenship to a rising middle class.