MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature The Falklands War and its impact on Margaret Thatcher’s politics Bachelor Thesis Brno 2016 Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. Josef Dastych Declaration I declare that I worked on this thesis on my own and that all information gathered for its compilation are from the sources which are cited in the references. Brno, 30th November 2016 Josef Dastych Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., PhD. For his helpful advice and valuable comments. I am very grateful for his useful guidance. Annotation The Falklands war was fought between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982. Despite the fact that the war was relatively short, it had an underlying impact on the politics of both countries. Before the war, Argentina and Great Britain were in a state of turmoil and political and economic decline. Britain’s victory propelled unpopular Margaret Thatcher to widespread popularity while Argentine’s defeat ended the dictatorial regime and enabled to restore democracy. The aim of this thesis is to analyse historical aspects of dispute between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands and the impact of the conflict on the politics of Margaret Thatcher and her leadership. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter analyses the origin of the dispute, its historical background and diplomatic negotiations to preclude the war. The second chapter focuses on the war process and reactions of the British public. The third chapter examines the impact of the war on the politics of Great Britain particularly on Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. Key words: Falklands War, Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher, Argentina, General Galtieri Table of contents General introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1. Background of the Falkland Islands and the Argentine Invasion ........................................... 3 1.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Geography of the Falkland Islands .................................................................................. 3 1.3. Historical background of Falkland Islands until 1833 .................................................... 3 1.3.1. The British perspective ............................................................................................. 4 1.3.2. Argentine perspective ............................................................................................... 5 1.4. The dispute leading to the war ........................................................................................ 9 1.5. The reasons and pretexts to fight the war ...................................................................... 13 1.5.1. Argentine reasons to reclaim the Falkland Islands ................................................. 13 1.5.2. British reasons to reclaim the Falkland Islands ...................................................... 14 2. The Falklands War ................................................................................................................ 17 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 17 2.2. The South Georgia incident ........................................................................................... 17 2.3. The British diplomatic responses .................................................................................. 18 2.4. The invasion of the Falkland Islands ............................................................................. 19 2.4.1. Battle for Grytviken ............................................................................................... 21 2.4.2. The British reaction to the invasion ....................................................................... 21 2.4.3. Supports for Britain ................................................................................................ 22 2.5. The British counterattack .............................................................................................. 24 2.5.1. The Recapture of South Georgia ............................................................................ 24 2.5.2. The British public opinion ...................................................................................... 25 2.5.3. The first strike ........................................................................................................ 26 2.5.4. Sinking of the General Belgrano ............................................................................ 27 2.5.5. Sinking of HMS Sheffield ...................................................................................... 28 2.5.6. Landing at San Carlos ............................................................................................ 28 2.5.7. Goose Green ........................................................................................................... 30 2.5.8. The Fall of Port Stanley.......................................................................................... 30 2.5.9. Falkland victory ...................................................................................................... 31 3. The impact of the Falklands war on Margaret Thatcher’ politics ........................................ 32 3.1. Before the war ............................................................................................................... 32 3.2. During the war ............................................................................................................... 35 3.3. The aftermath ................................................................................................................ 37 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 40 References ................................................................................................................................ 42 Appendices ............................................................................................................................... 46 General introduction It seems unbelievable that so remote islands would gain such importance to any other nation than the United Kingdom. Before 1982, hardly anyone in Great Britain knew or was concerned about a distant archipelago called the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. On the other hand, practically all Argentines were confident that the Islands, known as Islas Malvinas, rightfully belong to them. Argentina's rhetoric for the return of the Islands escalated to physical action on 2 April 1982 when Argentine government, ruled by a military junta, shocked the international community by invading them after 149 years of British possession and administration. It was a culmination of a long-standing dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands caused by miscommunication and lack of diplomatic negotiations. The British quick response to defend and recapture their territory was a success after just 74 days of heavy fighting. However, the cost to both sides was enormous. Besides high economic expenditures, the death toll was not. Although the war fought over rather small and, at that time, economically unimportant archipelago, it had a considerable impact on domestic politics not only in both participating countries, but also introduced significant changes in international politics and dramatically changed the lives of the islanders. Prior to the war, Britain was suffering from political decline and industrial and economic recession followed by high unemployment. Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first Prime Minister, was losing her popularity and was about to lose the upcoming general elections. Despite the problems, she decided to retake the Falkland Islands by force. The victory of the war had a substantial impact on Thatcher's domestic politics. It helped her regain the public support and assured her a second term in office by winning the 1983 general elections. Argentina was in a comparable political situation to Great Britain. Leopoldo Galtieri, the president and the head of the military junta, and the Argentine government were increasingly unpopular. During the late 1980's Argentina was facing economic decline and the junta was widely criticized for human rights abuses, economic mismanagement and high inflation. General Galtieri thought that the invasion of the Falkland Islands would strengthen his fading popularity. The Falkland Islands have remained of the British possession, albeit a matter of dispute over them has not been resolved and still persists. In the past decade the question of who the Islands belong to has been tackled as the waters surrounding the Falkland Islands have become attractive to oil companies searching new oil and gas reserves. 1 The aim of this thesis is to compare reasons of both countries to fight a short but bloody war and its impact on the domestic politics of Margaret Thatcher. The thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first chapter analyses the historical background of the dispute from the perspective of both respective countries from the discovery of the archipelago to the outbreak of the war. The second chapter provides a description of the Falkland War and some important battles fought in