Meanwhile the main task force has reached the vicinity of the Falkland IslandsĢ May | Argentine cruiser General Belgrano is torpedoed by British submarine HMS Conqueror, resulting in the deaths of 323. Its leadership believed that reclaiming the Falklands – the islands were about 300 miles off Argentina’s coastline, but over 8,000 miles from Britain’s shores – would appeal to nationalist sentiment and unite an increasingly fractious public behind the government.įalklands War timeline: Sir Max Hastings picks 10 key dates in the conflictġ9 March 1982 | A group of Argentines (purportedly scrap metal workers) land on South GeorgiaĢ April | Argentine forces invade the Falklands, capturing the islands after a brief fightģ April | The UN Security Council calls unsuccessfully for an end to hostilities and an Argentine withdrawalĥ April | The British task force sets sail for the south AtlanticĢ5 April | South Georgia is recaptured by British commandos. In the early 1980s, Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship – called a junta – and rocked by political unrest and economic crises. Britain retained possession of the Falklands from that point on – but the issue of the islands’ sovereignty remained controversial. In 1833, the British reasserted their sovereignty and requested that the Argentine administration leave. Five years after that, Spanish troops captured the fort of Port Egmont (Britain’s first settlement on West Falkland).įifty years on, a mercenary working for the United Provinces of the River Plate – a forerunner of what would later become Argentina – claimed possession of the islands. France was the first nation to establish a colony on East Falkland in 1764, before the British claimed West Falkland as its own the next year. The history of the Falklands is rather convoluted.

From an Argentine point of view, the war was sparked less by an ‘invasion’ and more by a reclamation of territory that was, by rights, theirs.

Falklands war 1982 casualties