The new man. Regeneratonism in Spain

Abstract

As Jose Luis Comellas has pointed out the designation Restoration served at the beginning to refer to the actual return of the Bourbons to the throne; but it later became generalized to define an era which was endowed with a very distinct personality (1875-1898), and perhaps even more, to designate a regime, the regime of the Restoration which lasted as such until 1923, or if preferred, until 1931, when it definitively came to an end. The regime of the Restoration is therefore, to date, the longest lasting period in the whole of contemporary Spanish history (Comellas 1996), p.251. In the first place it is necessary to analyze the circumstances which constituted this moment in history, as to paraphrase one of the most important thinkers of the Restoration, Ortega y Gasset «My work is, by essence and presence, circumstantial » 1 (ORTEGA Y GASSET 1932, 1966) 2 , making it essential to know the circumstances in order to understand the man who arose from them and the role that sport played in this “new man” who will be described later on