Falklands Crisis - International relations

Question 1

When did Argentine forces invade and capture Falkland Islands?

Answer 1

2nd April 1982

Question 2

Differences in distance from Falklands to Argentina and Britain?

Answer 2

• 400 miles to Argentina
• 8000 miles from Britain

Question 3

Why did Argentina take the Falkland Islands?

Answer 3

• Argentina as a brutal military dictatorship that believed Britain would not have the will or means to retake.
• British government had to decide whether to risk military defeat by attempting to recapture islands or suffer loss of prestige by abandoning islands’ British population.

Question 4

When did Thatcher’s government dispatch a task force of ships?

Answer 4

5th April 1982

Question 5

When did British submarines sink the General Belgrano (an Argentine cruiser)?

Answer 5

2nd May 1982

Question 6

How many Argentinians died on General Belgrano?

Answer 6

360

Question 7

How did Argentina respond to the sinking of the General Belgrano?

Answer 7

HMS Sheffield, a British warship, destroyed by missile. Killed 20 crew members.

Question 8

When did British troops land on East Falkland?

Answer 8

21 May 1982

Question 9

When did British forces enter Port Stanley and Argentina surrendered?

Answer 9

14th June

Question 10

Why was Britain successful?

Answer 10

• Thatcher reacted swiftly –> task force assembled and set sail 3 days later
• UN Security Council demanded withdrawal of Argentinian forces, at British request. Britain’s actions were legally justified.
• European Community was persuaded to impose sanction on Argentina.
• Opposing sides of the war were not well matched: the Argentine air force pilots succeeded in hitting targets, but suffered many losses. The Navy played little part in the conflict.
• Reagan administration did not think Islands were worth war. Alexander Haig (Secretary of State) made intensive efforts to mediate. This gave British forces time to reach South Atlantic.
• US Defence Secretary (Caspar Weinberger) was pro-British and provided task force with weapons, military intelligence on signals traffic from Argentina) and the use of US air base on Ascension Island, an essential staging post for the build-up of British forces.

Question 11

Why was war a success?

Answer 11

• Contributed to Thatcher’s landslide victory 1983
• Boast that policies had restored Britain’s ‘greatness’ –> Empire
• Resolution of Thatcher and British armed forces

Question 12

Negatives of Falklands Crisis?

Answer 12

• Less on Suez reinforced. –> Needed USA support.
• Garrison troops and rebuild airport –> £1.5 million per islander
• Sovereignty remained an unresolved issue.
• Critics of the war regarded it as a costly enterprise of little significance.