Why did Argentina Decline? (Short Animated Documentary)

At the end of the nineteenth century, Argentina was seen by many as on the cusp of becoming a great power. Yet as you'll know, that never happened and instead Argentina declined relative to the rest of the developed world. But why? To find out watch this short and simple animated documentary.

A special thanks to all of these Patrons below, without whom the show wouldn't be possible:

Kevin Sanders
Ian Jensen
Mickey Landen
Kevin Phoenix
Richard Wolfe
אורי פרקש
Robert Brockway
Can’t Think Of A Name
Mr Sandman
SirAlpaka
Connor Glaze
D. Mahlik
Björnosaurus
Porkmeister
David archaeologist
jdk
anon
sharpie660
Dragan
Mcfeld
Andreas Mosand
Qi Xiao
Ainar Garipov
John Bisges
Southside Mitch
Wolf
Rod D. Martin
Dexter_McAaron
Jeremy
Ryan Haber
Chris Fatta
Adam Stalter
Mantodea
Andrew Niedbala
Riley davidson
John Garcia
Andrew Patane
Nathan Perlman
Paul McGee
Bernardo Santos
Heytun
SkyEye
Yick Chung
Tristan Kreller
Mik Scheper
Jane Sumpter
Chris Dolan
Christopher Godfrey
Warren Rudkin
Nicu Merge Prin Soare
Robert Woodward
Erik Martin
Chris Hall
Perry Gagne
Joooooshhhhhh
Danny Anstess
Shaun Pullin
Darnell Barbour
Alen
Magdalena Reinberg-Leibel
bas mensink
Henry Rabung
Joshua A Bishop
Caelen Hadwin
Tsar Roman II
Clay Carroll
I'm Not In The Description
Vilelmus_veliki
William Wold
Noremac_Cameron
Gregory Priebe
Joker 54
FF Nelly
Chach
Cap
Mark Ploegstra
Liam Gilleece
Blake Dryad
Craig Cunningham
Sytze de Witte
Ciege Engine
JAY ALAN EDELMAN
Luke Robinson
Haydn Noble
Jeffrey Schneider
Kinfe85
Alteredcorgi
Matthew O'Connor
Chrisaztec
TooMuchWaterYouDie
Thomas Wang
Spencer Smith
Josh Cornelius
Harley Raptopoulos
Piotr Wojnowski
The Roger Luna
Colm Boyle
HelloAgainThere
Phillip Gathright
Björn Wittmann
Dakota Brunell
Arthur Hosey Jr.
Alex Adorno
Colin Steele
Serius_Loyola
SmythProductions
Konstantin Bredyuk
Dennis the Cat
Richard Manklow
Franco La Bruna
Donald Weaver
Matthew Hogan
mohd
Liam Mahon
Alan Romero
Steve Bonds
João Santos
Christian S. Trenk
Pierre Le Mouel
Christine Purvis
Seth Reeves

Sources:
On the origins of Latin American economic diversity. The Argentine case 1875-1914 by Vicente Vázquez—Presedo

Party and State in Peronist Argentina, 1945-1955 by Walter Little

External Dependence, Demographic Burdens, and Argentine Economic Decline After the Belle Époque by Alan M. Taylor

[theblackspider]

"Internationally, the argentine peso was seen as worthless"

Well at least something remained consistent

[aldotorres]

If only Argentina had a Patreon account to ease its economic woes.

[maria-martina]

im argentinian and this is a really good description of the problem. i have the feeling that over here everyone is so polarized, with so much emotion because of the impact the economics have, that seeing the whole picture like this video presents is actually pretty hard for people. thank you for making this!!

[FuyuNoAi]

I'm almost 28, I grew up hearing about the good old days and watching people arguing over Perón. My father, a 60 year old man, grew up hearing about those same good old days and watching people arguing over Perón. We can't break the loop.

[alabamaal]

Argentina: A country with a great future - behind it.

[gastonheliz]

Argentina seems like a really interesting place, with interesting people to know. Hope I can visit that some day! Greetings from Lanús

[TheMakronX]

As an Argentinian, I feel you addressed each topic respectfully and accurately. Here's my like and my sub ^^

[amostra]

argentina sounds like an amazing country filled with great food and amazing people, without mentioning its beautiful landscapes. greetings from caba

[vaclavnovacek]

"I hope you enjoyed this episode..." Argentinians smashing the monitorts...

[ryanking]

"There are four kinds of countries in the world: developed countries, undeveloped countries, Japan and Argentina"
- Simon Kuznets

[MrWatchmen]

Damn that was hard to watch. At least they won the World Cup

[moritzl]

Very interesting how YouTube decided to recommend this video in particular to me today...

[eca]

"turns out military's can't run economies"

Me, an Egyptian: *_sweats nervously_*

[brobroman]

"Fortunately though, in 1929, things got much better for Argentina and by much better, I mean worse because Great Depression."

Please, never change.

[GusBrunson]

There are things in Argentine politics that no other country has.
My favorite is the Argentine military junta that took power in 1976, with the overwhelming support of the business community, and then one of the very first measures of the Junta's was to pay off all the foreign debts that these Argentinian companies had contracted. And they did it using the government's reserves. Incredible.

[rendevoir]

you explained the issue in 3 minutes, our economists debate for hours on end, like a dog chasing its tail, never to find an answer

[santiagochahin]

As an argentinian studing history, this is a very good nutshell.

[DZRWIND]

Argentina in a nutshell: “Why are you hitting yourself?”

[FrAmXisCo]

As an argentinean pol sci major i would say this is actually quite a very acceptable approach to a summary of our history. I would however be more critical on the idea that Argentina was prosperous at the end of the 20th century, as it's a very complex premise. And even if it were a true premise, that model has -and had- a very limited potential. This is important because the question "why did Argentina decline" is a question used politically by certain groups of interest that constantly bring up the idea of a wasted oportunity without taking responsability.

[omessiasdogol]

Long story short: disastrous government after disastrous government