The First World War significantly impacted Latin American intellectuals' view on the subcontinent's role in the world. The Great War and its repercussions divided society, reinforcing and shaping a renewed nationalism and a growing anti-imperialism in Latin America. Resistance to what was perceived as outsiders' meddling in the region's affairs, whether economic, political or cultural, grew. While political sovereignty and cultural distinctness had increasingly been affirmed in the years before 1914, the war reinforced these preexisting tendencies in a variety of ways.