The Falklands
War, although in theory not a
war but rather a conflict, was fought between Argentina and Britain.
On the 2nd of
May in 1982, the Argentine Navy, launched an amphibious assault on the island, initally gaining the element of suprise against the Royal Marine garrison on the island. Eventually, the islands were seized temporarily by Argentina.
Shortly after the invasion,
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher deployed a Naval Task Force to retake the islands by force. HMS Hermes, one of the two aircraft carriers sent to the Falklands (the other being HMS Invincible) became the flagship and floating command centre for the
British Armed Forces.
On the 14th of April, after Argentina surrendered to the British
Army, the conflict ceased. The
war lasted 74 days, with 255
British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falklanders killed.
There has been severe controversy over certain actions performed by both the Argentine and
British Armed Forces respectively.
Possibly the most common controversial act occured after a Royal Navy submarine engaged and sank the ARA Belgrano, Argentina's only cruiser. Argentina deemed this action inhumane as the ship was outside of the exclusion zone, and was turning away from the Falklands. However the Royal Navy did declare that a few days before the engagement, that they had sent a message to Argentina declaring that they would engage at will any hostile naval, aircraft or land force whether it be in the exclusion zone or not.
The second most common was the false allegations of the damaging or sinking of HMS Invincible. During the closing stages of the conflict, the Argentine
Air Force launched a last desperate attack against the
British Task Force, hoping to sink the Invincible with their last remaining Exocet Missile, as a goal to raise troop morale. The attack however failed when the Exocet was destroyed whilst on course by the Invincible's anti-missile defense.
However, Argentine pilots who retreated tried to make it clear that Invincible had been damaged, some even said that it was sunk. These allegations however were overruled when the Invincible returned after the conflict into port with no sight of battle damage on her whatsoever.
To this
day, Argentina has made a solid belief that the islands belong to them, refusing to accept its
British sovereignity or its name, by calling it Isla las Malvinas.
This conflict also had solidified Margaret Thatcher's reputation, she was soon dubbed "The Iron Lady" as she showed extreme leadership skills and a very
deep respect and belief towards the
British goal to retake the islands.
