The Falkland Islands War of 1982: A Legal, Diplomatic and Strategic Evaluation by Craig Alexander Snyder Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Department of Politics BROCK UNIVERSITY St. Catharines, Ontario @ June 1989 ABSTRACT The Falkland Islands War of 1982 was fought over competing claims to sovereignty over a group of islands off the east coast of South America. The dispute was between Argentina and the United Kingdom. Argentina claims the islands under rights to Spanish succession, the fact that they lie off the Argentine coast line and that in 1833 Great Britain took the islands illegally and by force. The United Kingdom claims the islands primarily through prescription--the fact that they have governed the islands in a peaceful, continuous and public manner since 1833. The British also hold that the population living on the islands, roughly eighteen hundred British descendants, should be able to decide their own future. The United Kingdom also lays claim to the islands through rights of discovery and settlement, although this claim has always been challenged by Spain who until 1811 governed the islands. Both claims have legal support, and the final decision if there will ever be one is difficult to predict. Sadly today the ultimate test of sovereignty does not come through international law but remains in the idea that "He is sovereign who can defend his sovereignty." The years preceding the Argentine invasion of 1982 witnessed many diplomatic exchanges between The United Kingdom and Argentina over the future of the islands. During this time the British sent signals to Argentina that ii implied a decline in British resolve to hold the islands and demonstrated that military action did more to further the talks along than did actual negotiations. The Argentine military junta read these signals and decided that they could take the islands in a quick military invasion and that the United Kingdom would consider the act as a fait accompli and would not protest the invasion. The British in response to this claimed that they never signaled to Argentina that a military solution was acceptable to them and launched a Royal Navy task force to liberate the islands. Both governments responded to an international crisis with means that were designed both to resolve the international crisis and increase the domestic popularity of the government. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was facing an all-time low in popularity for post-War Prime Ministers while Argentine President General Galtieri needed to gain mass popular support so he could remain a viable President after he was scheduled to lose command of the army and a seat on the military junta that ran the country. The military war for the Falklands is indicative of the nature of modern warfare between Third World countries. It shows that the gap in military capabilities between Third and First World countries is narrowing significantly. Modern warfare between a First and Third World country is no longer a 'walk over' for the First World country. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my parents, my grandmothers, my sister and brother in law, Anne Sletmo and all my friends in Calgary (except for Dave Bell) for their encouragement. I would also like to thank Dr. Dan Madar for his guidance and advice. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................ i i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................ iv INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter ONE. LEGAL ASPECTS............ .................. 7 Introduction Legality of Territorial Claims Claims to the Islands The Right to Intervene under International Law. Conclusion TWO. DIPLOMATIC CONSIDERATIONS: SIGNALING AND DOMESTIC POLITICS ........... "............. 45 Introduction Political Decision Making Process Signaling Conclusion THREE. THE STRATEGIC NATURE OF THE CONFLICT ....... 95 Introduction Strategy Operations and Tactics Logistics Conclusion CONCLUSION ...................................... 133 REFERENCE LIST 139 v INTRODUCTION The Falkland Islands1 are situated in the South Atlantic and are about four hundred and eighty miles north- east of Cape Horn, three hundred miles from the nearest point on the South American mainland and about eight thousand miles from London. They consist of roughly two hundred islands the largest of which are West and East Falkland. Their total land mass is approximately four thousand seven hundred square miles. They are populated by roughly one thousand eight hundred British citizens. The terrain is mainly barren grasslands and hills, the highest of which is Mount Osborne which rises two thousand three hundred and twelve feet. The climate is harsh with average temperatures between twenty degrees Celsius and minus five degrees Celsius. The islands are wind swept and overcast, and snow has been reported in every month except for Feb- ruary. Given these physical characteristics why did ten thousand Argentine troops invade these islands on 2 April 1982, why did the British Government spend over b2 billion2 1. The islands are known as the Malvinas in Argentina. Although the use of either generally indicates support for one side over the other I have decided to use only the English name for the islands except in quotations from Argentine sources where it seemed inappropriate to use the name Falklands. The individual use of the name Falklands was chosen because the use of both names, separated either by a slash or parentheses, seemed to detract from the flow of the writing; no political implication should be deduced. 2 to recapture these islands and more importantly why did roughly twelve hundred men 3 have to die during the conflict? The islands have no modern strategic value, the only indus- try is sheep farming, they have a small population of about eighteen hundred, and were virtually unknown to the average British citizen let alone the rest of the world prior to the April invasion. The Falkland Islands have been a long standing source of tensions between The United Kingdom and Argentina. The War of 1982 was initiated by the Argentine junta in order to focus public attention away from domestic political develop- ments in Argentina. The British responded to the inter- national crisis in a manner that would show the world, and the British public, that even though the Empire was no longer, Britain was still a world power and was willing to use force to retain her remaining world possessions. This crisis demonstrates the modern nature of conflict and war fare between the industrial and developing states. The methodology used in this thesis will be to divide the analysis into three areas, legal considerations, bilat- eral signaling and domestic politics, and a strategic over- view. The first chapter will deal with the legal aspects 2. An unofficial estimate which includes the cost of sending the task force and replacement cost of the equipment and ships lost. Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands (London: Pan books, 1983), 317. 3. This total is an estimate based on reported casualties and losses on both sides. 3 and will include the international law governing the area and an analysis of the two conflicting claims on the islands and their dependencies. It will also deal with the legality of intervention and the use of force in international rela­ tions. Finally, an examination of why inter national law failed to resolve the dispute will be under taken. Chapter two will examine the decision making process of both governments and the role domestic politics played throughout the crisis. The key political decisions by both parties, from the initial Argentine use of military force to capture the islands to the British deployment of a task force and its subsequent retaking of the colony, all reflect domestic political considerations. The role of inter­ national signalling will also be examined to find if either side was sending or receiving false signals from the other country. Chapter three will be an overview of the strategic aspects of the crisis. The nature of conflicts between the industrial and developing countries will be examined, as well the nature of modern Third World warfare. Eliot Cohen's article, "Distant Battles", offers a particularly pertinent method to the study of modern Third World warfare. The nature of strategy, operations, tactics and logistics in modern Third World conflicts will be examined as to their relationship to the Falkland Islands War. The literature on the Falklands War is both voluminous and quite good. Immediately following the conflict many 4 instant histories were produced by the journalists who covered the war. Most of these deal primarily with life on the task force as it sailed to the South Atlantic or life with the Royal Marines or Para regiments that fought the war. Most of these only give a brief outline of the con­ flict or the political factors that led to the conflict. The best of these dealt with a little more than the daily life of the combatants. These included Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands and Paul Eddy and Magnus Linklater with the Sunday Times Insight Team, The Falklands War. Most of the articles and books that have been written on the conflict deal with a singular aspect of the conflict and do not attempt to tie in any of the dif­ ferent aspects of the entire crisis. One collection that attempts this however was The Falklands War: Lessons for Strategy, Diplomacy, and International Law, edited by Alberto R. ColI and Anthony C Arend. The Struggle for the Falkland Islands by Julius Goebel Jr. is the definitive book concerning the sovereignty dispute. It was first published in 1927 and subsequently reprinted in 1982. The British government commissioned Lord Franks to conduct a Privy Coun­ cil investigation into the origins of the dispute and the published findings of that investigation is the best source for the history of the diplomatic and historic dispute bet­ ween the two countries between the 1960's and 1982.