Introduction
Friday 2 April 1982
8 a.m. - Britain is at war with Argentina!!! Radio 4 has just announced it. I am overcome with excitement. Half of me thinks it is tragic and the other half of me thinks it is dead exciting.
10 a.m. - Woke up my father to tell him Argentina has invaded the Falklands. He shot out of bed because he thought the Falklands lay off the coast of Scotland. When I pointed out that they were eight thousand miles away he got back into bed and pulled the covers over his head.
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, Sue Townsend
In the early 1980s there was a perception that the British Government would give up the Falkland Islands to Argentina, in direct opposition to the wishes of the Islanders, who considered themselves British.
Map (Click to enlarge)
In 1981, under increasing economic pressure, Sir John Nott, the Defence Secretary, announced major defence cuts including the axing of Royal Navy assault ships, aircraft carriers and the withdrawal of the patrol ship HMS Endurance from her lone guard over the Falklands. To the military dictatorship, or Junta, that ruled Argentina, an opportunity had arisen to be exploited. By retaking the Falklands, or Malvinas, the Argentine government hoped to unite the nation.
Invasion
Letter to Argentine soldiers on the Falklands. NAM 1992-05-23
On 19 March 1982 Argentine Navy ships landed what purported to be scrap metal workers on the Island of South Georgia, a dependency 800 miles from the Falklands. The presence of Argentine military forces and the raising of an Argentine flag on the Island was enough for the British Government to despatch HMS Endurance on one last mission. News of a British nuclear submarine, a threat to any seaborne invasion, departing from Gibraltar was enough to trigger the main Argentine invasion.
Argentina invaded the Falklands on 2 April 1982. When the crisis hit the headlines many people had no idea where the Islands were. The 85 Royal Marines garrisoning the island put up a staunch defence against the overwhelming invasion force. The photographs of their surrender shocked the British public and spurred the British Government into action.
