The Falkland Islands, which are composed of East Falkland Island, West Falkland Island and 776 small islands, are distributed on the Atlantic Ocean at 51°40′-53°00′ south latitude and 57°40′-62°00′ west longitude, with a total area of 12,200 square kilometers. The name Falkland Islands was given by the British, while Argentina calls it Malvinas Islands (referred to as Falkland Islands). The Falklands, located in Argentina's territorial waters, is more than 500 kilometers away from Argentina's land territory. However, this archipelago at the doorstep of Argentina is actually under the control of the United Kingdom. The British believe that the British navigator Davis on the HMS Desire in 1592 was the first person to discover the islands.
There is no international support for this statement from the British side. It is currently internationally recognized that the first person with clear written records to discover the Falklands was the Dutchman Wilder in 1600. In 1764, the French navigator Bougainville took the lead in establishing a settlement on East Falkland Island. The British also began to settle on the island the following year. In 1770, the Spanish colonists who occupied the South American continent expelled the British on the island and bought all the property rights of the French settlement around 1767. In 1771 Britain threatened war to restore its West Falkland outpost.
It should be noted that the British only controlled West Falkland at this time, while East Falkland was still under Spanish rule. In 1774, Britain withdrew from West Falkland due to economic reasons, but did not publicly claim to give up its claim to sovereignty over West Falkland. The Spanish colony of Argentina declared independence on July 9, 1816. In 1820, Argentina claimed to have inherited Spanish sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. In early 1833, the British expelled Argentinian officials from the island. Since then, Britain and Argentina have been at loggerheads over the ownership of the islands.
The territorial ownership issue between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falklands triggered a war between the two countries in 1982. On April 2, 1982, Argentine President Galtieri ordered the Argentine army to fully occupy the Falklands. Since the British defense force on the Falklands was quite weak, the Argentine army occupied the entire Falklands after encountering only slight resistance. On the surface, Argentina did this for the sake of the sovereignty of the Falklands, but in fact it wanted to use this war to divert people's attention from domestic economic problems. In 1981, Argentina's inflation rate reached over 600%.
In the same year, Argentina's GDP dropped by 11.4%, manufacturing output dropped by 22.9%, and wages increased by only 19.2%. Such a bad economic situation has made Argentina increasingly dissatisfied with the ruling military government of Galtieri. The Galtieri government is trying to divert the attention of the domestic people through foreign war, but a country with many internal problems launching a foreign war will only end up losing both internally and externally. Modern warfare is no longer just a simple confrontation between two armies, but a comprehensive contest of the comprehensive strength of both sides - the domestic political and economic situation will also affect their combat efficiency.
The weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people. How can a country that is not united internally expect to use foreign war to divert domestic conflicts and talk about peace? So does Argentina, which does not take advantage of the people and the people, take advantage of the right time and place? In fact, as early as 1979, the United Kingdom secretly negotiated with Argentina to hand over the Falkland Islands due to budget contraction. In 1981 Britain planned to withdraw its troops from the Falkland Islands. Although the UK was negotiating with Argentina on the handover of the Falklands at the time, it could not be regarded as having made a commitment to Argentina to return the Falklands until an agreement was reached, and the withdrawal was only a move to relieve domestic financial pressure.
In fact, this does not mean that the UK will abandon the Falklands. The biggest concession that the UK can make is that it is possible to reach an agreement with Argentina on the handover of the Falklands on the basis that Argentina recognizes Britain's priority rights and interests in the Falklands' oil, fishery and other resources. However, Argentina's Galtieri military government underestimated from the beginning Britain's determination to defend the Falklands by force. Galtieri believed that Britain had given up so many colonies after World War II, and was also preparing to withdraw its troops on the Falklands issue. Therefore, Galtieri believed that even if he really took over the Falklands, it would not cause much reaction from Britain.
Argentina underestimated the possibility that Britain would choose to go to war from the beginning, so Argentina was not fully prepared for the war. Until the British navy and air force arrived at their doorstep across half the world, the Argentinians still felt that the war was falling out of thin air. Argentina did not even build a temporary airport on the Falkland Islands for fighter jets to take off and land. When the war broke out, the British army easily gained control of the sea and air in the Falklands. Argentina, which lost its strategic initiative, fell into a passive position from the beginning.
Since Argentina has never built a temporary airport on the Falkland Islands for fighter planes to take off and land, Argentine Air Force aircraft can only take off from the local airport. On the surface, the Falklands appear to be quite close to the mainland of Argentina, but the southern region of Argentina close to the Falklands is not the main part of its territory. The southern region of Argentina is like Russia's Siberia and the northern region of Canada. Most of Argentina's economic resources and military power are deployed in the northern region. The average distance from several major air force airports in Argentina to the Falklands is more than 800 kilometers.
Of course, this distance is definitely not as far as the distance from the British mainland to the Falklands, but this is already an expedition for the Argentine army. In order to ensure the performance of the Argentine Air Force's fighter aircraft to ensure the attack range near the Falklands, it is necessary to carry out aerial refueling. The gap between the two sides is not only reflected in weapons and equipment, but also in organizational management. When the Royal Navy task force completed formation, supplies and training on its way to the Falklands across half of the world, the Argentine army could not even transport enough supplies to the Falklands to maintain normal operations of more than 20,000 Argentine troops on the island.
After the British task force arrived in the Falklands, Argentina no longer had the so-called geographical advantage of fighting on its doorstep. The British task force with aircraft carrier is actually equivalent to a mobile fortress on the sea. The British army did need to dispatch troops across half of the world at the beginning, but after the task force gained control of the sea and air in the Falklands waters, Argentina had to travel more than 800 kilometers to fight. The mobilization of the British army in the Falklands War was a textbook operation: accurate prediction, reasonable distribution, rapid assembly... The nearly 30,000-strong British task force dispatched required 60 tons of food every day.
The UK mobilized more than 30 companies to provide the supplies needed by the troops within 60 days. Considering that the war zone is close to Antarctica, the UK urgently mobilized 50 companies to produce cold zone combat uniforms. In addition, the UK has requisitioned 21 commercial tankers for oil supply. On the other hand, Argentina was fighting on its own doorstep and was short of food and clothing: the soldiers lived in tents without cold protection and wore combat uniforms without cold protection. During the war, many wounded soldiers in the Afghan army had their limbs amputated due to the cold. The Afghan soldiers who did not wear warm clothes also did not have enough to eat: each of them only had one meal a day, and each meal was just a military canned .
After the exchange of fire between the two armies, the Argentine army on the island did not play much role due to lack of sufficient ammunition and supplies. On April 30, 1982, the British navy and air force completed the sea and air blockade within 200 nautical miles around Tsushima Island. What was left was to "catch turtles in a jar" against the Afghan army trapped on Tsushima Island. On May 21, the British troops began to land on the Falklands. Although they encountered fierce resistance, they still occupied the entire island on June 14. At the end of the battle, the Afghan army only had 6 bullets in hand on average. Seeing that the situation was over, Galtieri had no choice but to telegraph the troops stationed on the Falklands to surrender. This ended the 74-day Battle of Falklands.
During the Falklands War, in addition to the confrontation in frontal war, the two sides were also engaged in a diplomatic game. Both sides hope to win as many countries as possible to their side in the international arena. However, in this game, Argentina suffered a complete defeat just like on the frontal battlefield. The then Argentine President Galtieri came to power with the support of the United States, so he always pursued pro-American policies during his administration. Galtieri had communicated with the United States before he decided to launch the Falklands War. At that time, the United States expressed its neutral attitude toward the conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom.
But in fact, the United States still prefers the United Kingdom: the United States and the United Kingdom are both English-speaking countries, and the British foreign policy after World War II followed the lead of the United States. After the outbreak of the Falklands War, Mrs. Thatcher and US President Reagan held talks. After the meeting, the United States abandoned its neutrality and provided intelligence support to Britain. Under the influence of the United States, NATO countries have adopted a position of secretly supporting the United Kingdom. Although NATO countries did not openly intervene in the Falklands War, they actually secretly provided funds, weapons, intelligence and other support to the UK: France provided the parameters of its Exocet missile to the UK at that time.
