Blasco Ibanez has stated, more than once, that his greatest role model was Miguel de Cervantes, author of the immortal Don Quixote (1605 and 1615).

Among more contemporary influences he has acknowledged Victor Hugo as an important source of inspiration as both writer and activist. Several critics have remarked on the similarities of technique between Hugo's battle of Waterloo scenes in Les Miserables (1862) and Blasco's graphic description of the battle of the Marne. More recent studies tend to see a relationship between the works of Blasco and the novels of his Spanish contemporary Benito Perez Galdos, although neither author would have willingly accepted the comparison.