30 Years Ago - Argentina Invades the Falkland Islands

Thirty years ago today, Argentinian naval and land forces invaded and occupied the British Overseas Territories of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia island. In the coming days I will be authoring a recount of the resulting conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina.

Today, Argentina still claims sovereignty over the islands. The islanders resolutely want to remain British. The story of the United Kingdom's response to Argentinian aggression is a fantastic one of improvisation, resourcefulness, and triumph on the part of a nation whose defenses had been geared solely to fighting the Soviet Union in the North Atlantic and Western Europe.


On Friday, April 2, 1982, the Falklands were defended solely by a handful of Royal Marines. They resisted the Argentine invasion as best they could, including scoring a hit with an anti-tank missile on a landing craft, before surrendering at 0830 local time (0730 Eastern Time, 1330 GMT).

The Falklands Crisis was a severe test for the then not quite three year-old government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher and her government were faced with having to send a task force thousands of miles away from the closest support base (Ascension Island) with no active support from allies, including the United States (although we did eventually assist our Mother nation with materiel resources, story to be told).

Between today and June 14th, the date of the Argentinian surrender, I will be recounting the story of the conflict, including recapping some of the background history that led up to the crisis.

Much of what I will be retelling has its foundation on what I consider to be the definitive work on the Falklands War, The Battle for the Falklands, by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins. If any material in my series is not directly cited, it may be assumed to come from that work.