Undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982
Not to be confused with the Falkland Crisis of 1770, the South Atlantic conflict or the Battle of the Falkland Islands.
Falklands War
Part of the Cold War and the Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute
From top right and in clockwise direction: HMS Hermes and HMS Broadsword of the British Task Force; British HMS Antelope after being hit (later sank); Argentine Army POWs in Stanley; two Super Étendards of the Argentine Navy; Argentine forces at Port Stanley, 2 April 1982
Date
2 April – 14 June 1982 (1982-04-02 – 1982-06-14) (2 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location
Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
Result
British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom
Argentina
Commanders and leaders
Margaret Thatcher
Terence Lewin
Henry Leach
John Fieldhouse
Sandy Woodward
Jeremy Moore
Michael Clapp
Julian Thompson
Tony Wilson
Leopoldo Galtieri
Jorge Anaya
Basilio Lami Dozo
Juan Lombardo
Ernesto Horacio Crespo
Mario Menéndez
Casualties and losses
Casualties:
255 killed[1]
775 wounded
107 captured
Losses:
2 destroyers
2 frigates
1 landing ship
1 landing craft
1 container ship
24 helicopters
10 fighters
Casualties:
649 killed[2][3]
1,657 wounded[3]
11,313 captured
Losses:
1 cruiser
1 submarine
4 cargo vessels
2 patrol boats
1 naval trawler
25 helicopters
35 fighters
2 bombers
4 cargo aircraft
25 COIN aircraft
9 armed trainers
3 Falkland Islanders killed by shelling
v
t
e
Falklands War
Operation Rosario
South Georgia
Occupation
Operation Corporate
Paraquet
Black Buck
Santa Fe
Belgrano
Sobral
Sheffield
Pebble Island
Mikado
Sutton
San Carlos
Ardent
Seal Cove
Antelope
Atlantic Conveyor
Coventry
Goose Green
Mount Kent
Top Malo House
Bluff Cove
Many Branch Point
Mount Harriet
Two Sisters
Glamorgan
Sir Galahad
Mount Longdon
Wireless Ridge
Mount Tumbledown
Port Stanley
Thule & South Sandwich Islands
The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
The conflict was a major episode in the protracted dispute over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina asserted (and maintains) that the islands are Argentine territory,[4] and the Argentine government thus characterised its military action as the reclamation of its own territory. The British government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and strongly favour British sovereignty. Neither state officially declared war, although both governments declared the islands a war zone.
The conflict had a strong effect in both countries and has been the subject of various books, articles, films, and songs. Patriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the unfavourable outcome prompted large protests against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall and the democratisation of the country. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative government, bolstered by the successful outcome, was re-elected with an increased majority the following year. The cultural and political effect of the conflict has been less in the UK than in Argentina, where it has remained a common topic for discussion.[5]
Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were restored in 1989 following a meeting in Madrid, at which the two governments issued a joint statement.[6] No change in either country's position regarding the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was made explicit. In 1994, Argentina adopted a new constitution,[7] which declared the Falkland Islands as part of one of its provinces by law.[8] However, the islands continue to operate as a self-governing British Overseas Territory.[9]
^"Falkland Islands profile". BBC News. 5 November 2013. Archived from the original on 19 June 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
^Burns, John F. (5 January 2013). "Vitriol Over Falklands Resurfaces, as Do Old Arguments". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
^ abHistoria Marítima Argentina, Volume 10, p. 137. Departamento de Estudios Históricos Navales, Cuántica Editora, Argentina: 1993.
^"Argentine to reaffirm Sovereignty Rights over The Falkland Islands". National Turk. 4 January 2012. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
^"Cómo evitar que Londres convierta a las Malvinas en un Estado independiente". Clarin. 1 April 2007. Archived from the original on 1 May 2010. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
^"Joint statement of 19 October 1989: Re-establishing Consular Relations Between Britain and Argentina, and Agreeing a Framework on Sovereignty Which Would Allow Further Talks". Falklands info. Archived from the original on 17 May 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
^"Constitución Nacional". Argentine Senate (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 June 2004. La Nación Argentina ratifica su legítima e imprescriptible soberanía sobre las Islas Malvinas, Georgias del Sur y Sandwich del Sur y los espacios marítimos e insulares correspondientes, por ser parte integrante del territorio nacional.
^"Argentina: Constitución de 1994". pdba.georgetown.edu. Archived from the original on 14 November 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
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(12,000 km2), comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance...
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and the FalklandsWar, 1982. Chatham. pp. 160–185. ISBN 1-86176-197-X. Inskip, Ian (2002). Ordeal by Exocet: HMS Glamorgan and the FalklandsWar. Chatham...
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"symbolic revenge" for the United Kingdom's victory over Argentina in the FalklandsWar four years earlier. Six minutes into the second half of the game, Maradona...
forces on 2 April 1982, to capture the Falkland Islands, and served as a catalyst for the subsequent FalklandsWar. The Argentines mounted amphibious landings...
the Falklands Battle Group Commander. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-637841-2. OCLC 851714389. Privratsky, Kenneth (16 March 2016). Falklands 1982:...
would not have taken the ships near the Falklands. Destefani also attributes an early visit to the Falklands by an unknown Spanish ship, although Destefani's...
community in Canada Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the south Atlantic Ocean Falklands Crisis of 1770 FalklandsWar of 1982 Falkland, Fife, a former burgh...
centred around the aircraft carriers. The Sea Harrier served in the FalklandsWar and the Balkans conflicts; on all occasions it mainly operated from...
Imperial War Museum. "The Cabinet War Rooms". iwm.org.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2013. Release of MT's private files for 1982 – the FalklandsWar (1) Margaret...
Falkland. The Lessons of Modern War: The Afghan and Falklands conflicts, Anthony H. Cordesman, p. 257, Westview Press, 1990 Memories of the Falklands...
tried to regain popularity by occupying the disputed Falkland Islands. During the resulting FalklandsWar, the military government lost any remaining popularity...
lead to a military dictatorship that lasted until 1983. The FalklandsWar was the first war fought by the Argentine Air Force against an external enemy...
a "textbook example of a limited war - limited in time, in location, in objectives and in means," the FalklandsWar was fought over the course of 10 weeks...
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