Ramiro de Maeztu

Ramiro de Maeztu
Maeztu in 1934
Ambassador to Argentina
In office February 1928 – February 1930
Member of the Cortes
In office 1933–1936
Seat L of the Real Academia Española
In office 30 June 1935 – 29 October 1936
Preceded by	Cipriano Muñoz
Succeeded by	Eugenio Montes [es]
Personal details
Born	Ramiro de Maeztu y Whitney (1875-05-04)4 May 1875 Vitoria, Spain
Died	29 October 1936(1936-10-29) (aged 61) Madrid, Spain
Political party	Patriotic Union National Monarchist Union Spanish Renovation

Ramiro de Maeztu y Whitney (May 4, 1875 – October 29, 1936) was a prolific Spanish essayist, journalist and publicist. His early literary work adscribes him to the Generation of '98. Adept to Nietzschean and Social Darwinist ideas in his youth, he became close to Fabian socialism and later to distributism and social corporatism during his spell as correspondent in London from where he chronicled the Great War. During the years of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship he served as Ambassador to Argentina. A staunch militarist, he became at the end of his ideological path one of the most prominent far-right theorists against the Spanish Republic, leading the reactionary voices calling for a military coup. A member of the cultural group Acción Española, he spread the concept of "Hispanidad" (Spanishness). Imprisoned by Republican authorities after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he was killed by leftist militiamen during a saca in the midst of the conflict.