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This April 2 marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the Malvinas War, a conflict that pitted the United Kingdom and Argentina against each other for more than two months in 1982 and that resulted in hundreds of victims on both sides. These territories are considered overseas by London and claimed by Argentina since 1833 and under the dictatorship of General Leopoldo Galtieri it tried to take them without success.
The Falklands War is 40 years old. A conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom started over sovereignty over this archipelago, also known as Falkland, which caused hundreds of deaths and an unprecedented international crisis in the region. In this week’s history chronicle we will delve into the causes of this war, its development and the consequences, which continue to this day.
Argentina’s claim extends since 1833 over the Malvinas archipelago and the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands. A series of territories located in the southernmost part of the South American continent that have great strategic value. But that, despite their proximity to the Argentine coast, they are considered an overseas territory for London.
The Malvinas as an objective to improve the prestige of the dictatorship
With this historical background we arrive at April 1982. Argentina is under the power of a military dictatorship commanded by Leopoldo Galtieri, whose government suffered deep discredit due to the economic crisis and inflation that plagued the southern nation and the cases of violations of human rights against opponents. Galtieri and those around him considered that an incursion into the Malvinas would raise the popularity of his government and end the criticism.
His other strong point in starting the operation was the belief that the United Kingdom would not respond to the seizure of a territory located almost 13,000 kilometers from London. At that time, the United Kingdom was governed by the conservative Margaret Thatcher and was going through a deep internal crisis due to industrial reconversion that had led to constant general strikes by workers and miners throughout the nation. But Galtieri was wrong. And his plan to annex the Falklands turned into a war.
Although his troops took the Falklands and the South Georgia and Sandwich in two days, the United Kingdom declared war and sent 30,000 troops on April 5.
Two British aircraft carriers, together with several warships and destroyers, toured the Atlantic to repel the Argentine action. In addition, while Galtieri had timid support in Latin America and the USSR, the United Kingdom had the firm support of the United States, France and Chile. Argentina deployed 10,000 men to the Malvinas and put the air force into action for the first time in its history.
The start of the war
When the war started, the United Kingdom managed to seize South Georgia on April 25, 1982 and sank the Argentine ship General Belgrano on May 2, causing one of the greatest disasters of the war and the death of 323 Argentine soldiers.
The British Army focused on destroying the airport in Stanley, the capital of the Falklands and protecting the two aircraft carriers sent. Argentina managed to damage several warships, but not aircraft carriers, while the UK destroyed around 30% of Argentine aircraft.
The British military command was aware that it could lose the war if it dragged on and that the only chance it had of ending it was to carry out a major land operation. To do this, on May 21, he carried out an invasion to the north of Soledad Island to surround Stanley, the capital of the Malvinas, where the largest number of Argentines was concentrated.
For weeks, intense hand-to-hand fighting raged, leaving dozens dead. Although, despite the stubborn Argentine resistance, the British superiority caused that Stanley was under siege in a few days.
The Argentine Army was not well equipped
The conditions of the Argentine army deployed in Malvinas during the war were very precarious. Buenos Aires did not bother to provide basic supplies to its soldiers, who carried defective weapons and lacked adequate clothing to withstand the harsh winter on these islands. Furthermore, many of these people were young with little or no combat experience.
The elite units of the Argentine Army were not deployed in the Malvinas, since most were on the border with Chile due to fear of an invasion by Augusto Pinochet, who was openly at odds with Argentina at the time.
With its Army surrounded, on June 2 Buenos Aires tried to deal a last blow to the British fleet through Operation Algeciras, in Spain, which had the objective of ending the United Kingdom fleet deployed at the Gibraltar base, but it also failed, precipitating the inevitable end of the contest.
A tough defeat for Argentina
The harsh defeat was a shock for Argentina, and especially for the civic-military government, which was totally discredited and fell definitively in 1983, giving way to democracy. In total, 649 Argentines died in the contest, compared to 255 British.
For her part, the figure of Margaret Thatcher grew in popularity, forging her figure as the ‘Iron Lady’ and winning the elections the following year. The victory was greeted with jubilation in the United Kingdom, but the conflict never ended. Argentina continues to consider that the Malvinas are part of its sovereignty and continues to make claims on these islands despite the refusal shown by London and by the inhabitants of these islands, who prefer to remain linked to the British crown, an issue that makes it difficult for the aspirations of Argentina can materialize in the short term.
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