British Prosecution of the 1982 Falkland War

British Prosecution of the 1982 Falkland War

Introduction

In the year of 1982, Argentina and the United Kingdom were engaged in a war over a dispute of sovereignty of Falklands Island. This was the reason the war was known as The Falklands War, Falklands Crisis or Falklands Conflict. The was considered to be the longest standing conflict over the sovereignty issues of Falklands, the South Sandwich and South Georgia islands, which lies in the east of Argentina, in South Atlantic.

The war started on April 2, 1982 when armed forces of Argentina invade and occupied the South Georgia and Falkland Islands. In retaliation to this invasion, British government assembled a task force comprising of navy personnel and dispatched them to engage with Argentine Air Force and Navy. The naval task for of British reclaimed the islands after amphibious operation. The war continued to 74 days till the Argentine forces surrender against British task forces on June 1982, returning the control of the Island to Great Britain. This long standing conflict resulted in death of total 907 people comprising of 255 British military soldiers, 649 soldiers of Argentine armed forces and 3 native Falkland Islanders.

The prolonged historical confrontation in relation to the sovereignty issues of the islands was attributed as the main cause of the war. The government of Argentine claimed that Falkland Islands were part of the Argentine territory since 19th century, and at present Argentine has not stepped back from his claim over the islands. In fact, this claim becomes the part of the country constitution through a reformation in the year of 1994. In this context, the Argentine government pronounces their invasion an effort to reclaim and reoccupy their own territory. However, the British hold a different perspective in this regard, labelling the invasion as an effort to acquire the British dependent territory. Despite the fact that both countries claimed the territory, neither of them declared war officially. On the other hand, hostilities between the two nations are only limited to the disputed areas and local territory of South Atlantic. The war greatly impacted the politics and policies of both countries. In fact, patriotic sentiment remain high in Argentina, and the failure angered the masses resulted in protest demonstration against the military rulers, which eventually lead to the downfall of military government. This paper attempts to analyses at operational level the British Prosecution of the 1982 Falkland War, and will discuss the enduring lessons it for in references to the contemporary environment.

Background about Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago of dozens of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The territory belongs to Britain, and the vast majority of this population is of British origin. The Falklands are 500 miles from the Argentine coast. Two islands in the archipelago are highlighted by size. The capital on the island to the east is the most developed area on the islands.

FALKLAND ISLANDS

Capital

Port Stanley 

Population

2379 (2001), 1989 in the capital 

Population growth ...