Stanley, Falkland Islands
On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. It was an action that changed the face of British politics. From the perspective of the twenty-first century, we are now beginning to see how this unlikely conflict in the remote south Atlantic represented a shift in the tectonic plates of global power politics.
It was certainly an unwanted if not entirely unexpected conflict. In 1976, the Shackleton Report had advised Her Majesty's Government that the time had come "to let the inhabitants know that they are a nuisance and that if they wanted a better way of life they ought to seek it elsewhere." Many of the Kelpers - as the Falkland Islanders call themselves - would have concurred at least with the second part of that statement, and were much preoccupied with what deals could be struck with the London government for assisted passage to places like Australia or New Zealand. The "winds of change" had blown through English politics post-Suez with an acceptance by the political class that the old days of Empire were truly over and that Britain had to find a new role in the European Economic Community. For remnants of empire - notably such "last pink bits", as one travel writer has dubbed the island communities of the south Atlantic, these were not auspicious times. For the Falkland Islands, the corollary of a continental European post-imperial destiny for Britain was to direct them to their closest market, Argentina, the country that had never relinquished a rival claim to sovereignty over the archipelago.
The mistake the Argentine government made in the 1980s was to threaten and ultimately deploy force where diplomacy would almost certainly have achieved their goal. A deeply unpopular military junta in Buenos Aires devised an ill-fated invasion scheme as a desperate - and initially successful - ploy to boost their popularity at home. British politicians of left and right united to defend sovereign British territory under attack from a foreign power and a task force was assembled for an 8,000 mile expedition to reclaim the islands for the crown. The United States struggled to find a diplomatic solution in a conflict between two key allies but came down, eventually, on the side of Britain. The Falkland Islands were restored to Britain, after a conflict that lasted 74 days and saw he loss of 255 British and 649 Argentine lives.
What has been the long-term significance of the conflict? Mrs Thatcher, whose ratings in the opinion polls before the invasion had been in free fall, was transformed into a national heroine as the "Iron Lady". She secured a further term in office with an increased majority and was emboldened to tackle the power of the trade unions, notably in defeating the once all-powerful National Union of Miners. The alliance forged between Mrs Thatcher and President Reagan would have demonstrated to the Soviet Union that the west was prepared to take risks in resisting aggression and tyranny. It is not impossible that historians in the not-too-distant future will see the Falklands Conflict as the cusp on which history turned as the twentieth century drew to a close, the crucial first step in a sequence that led to the fall of Communism and the ill-fated invasion of Iraq.
As we toured Stanley with its delightful colonial homes of wood and tin, with their neatly tended lawns and vegetable gardens, thoughts of wars and rumors of wars could never be far from our thoughts. The names of British naval vessels were written on the distant hillsides and a war memorial topped with a statue of Britannia stands triumphant in Thatcher Drive.
On 2 April 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. It was an action that changed the face of British politics. From the perspective of the twenty-first century, we are now beginning to see how this unlikely conflict in the remote south Atlantic represented a shift in the tectonic plates of global power politics.
It was certainly an unwanted if not entirely unexpected conflict. In 1976, the Shackleton Report had advised Her Majesty's Government that the time had come "to let the inhabitants know that they are a nuisance and that if they wanted a better way of life they ought to seek it elsewhere." Many of the Kelpers - as the Falkland Islanders call themselves - would have concurred at least with the second part of that statement, and were much preoccupied with what deals could be struck with the London government for assisted passage to places like Australia or New Zealand. The "winds of change" had blown through English politics post-Suez with an acceptance by the political class that the old days of Empire were truly over and that Britain had to find a new role in the European Economic Community. For remnants of empire - notably such "last pink bits", as one travel writer has dubbed the island communities of the south Atlantic, these were not auspicious times. For the Falkland Islands, the corollary of a continental European post-imperial destiny for Britain was to direct them to their closest market, Argentina, the country that had never relinquished a rival claim to sovereignty over the archipelago.
The mistake the Argentine government made in the 1980s was to threaten and ultimately deploy force where diplomacy would almost certainly have achieved their goal. A deeply unpopular military junta in Buenos Aires devised an ill-fated invasion scheme as a desperate - and initially successful - ploy to boost their popularity at home. British politicians of left and right united to defend sovereign British territory under attack from a foreign power and a task force was assembled for an 8,000 mile expedition to reclaim the islands for the crown. The United States struggled to find a diplomatic solution in a conflict between two key allies but came down, eventually, on the side of Britain. The Falkland Islands were restored to Britain, after a conflict that lasted 74 days and saw he loss of 255 British and 649 Argentine lives.
What has been the long-term significance of the conflict? Mrs Thatcher, whose ratings in the opinion polls before the invasion had been in free fall, was transformed into a national heroine as the "Iron Lady". She secured a further term in office with an increased majority and was emboldened to tackle the power of the trade unions, notably in defeating the once all-powerful National Union of Miners. The alliance forged between Mrs Thatcher and President Reagan would have demonstrated to the Soviet Union that the west was prepared to take risks in resisting aggression and tyranny. It is not impossible that historians in the not-too-distant future will see the Falklands Conflict as the cusp on which history turned as the twentieth century drew to a close, the crucial first step in a sequence that led to the fall of Communism and the ill-fated invasion of Iraq.
As we toured Stanley with its delightful colonial homes of wood and tin, with their neatly tended lawns and vegetable gardens, thoughts of wars and rumors of wars could never be far from our thoughts. The names of British naval vessels were written on the distant hillsides and a war memorial topped with a statue of Britannia stands triumphant in Thatcher Drive.
