ABSTRACT
The social and historical context that gave rise to the Peruvian vanguard or new generation was the crisis of what today is known as the Aristocratic Republic (1895–1919). Born out of the political chaos caused by defeat at the hands of Chile, as a result of which Peru lost the whole southern part of its territory, the Aristocratic Republic had been characterized by an attempt at conservative modernization of its colonial administrative inheritance as well as its economic and social substratum of landed estates and racially based exploitation. The Aristocratic Republic came to an end in 1919, when incoming President Augusto B. Leguía dissolved congress and took over the government. The rise of the new generation, with its demands for not only social but also cultural modernization, represented another response to the breakdown of the Aristocratic Republic. Mariategui saw ideological transparency and coherence at the core of politics.
