The Falklands/Malvinas Conflict by Jorge O
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Imperial Nostalgia: Victorian Values, History and Teenage Fiction in Britain
RONALD PAUL Imperial Nostalgia: Victorian Values, History and Teenage Fiction in Britain In his pamphlet, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, on the seizure of French government power in 1851 by Napoleon’s grandson, Louis, Karl Marx makes the following famous comment about the way in which political leaders often dress up their own ideological motives and actions in the guise of the past in order to give them greater historical legitimacy: The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. And just when they seem engaged in revolutionizing themselves and things, in creating something that has never yet existed, precisely in such periods of revolutionary crisis they anxiously conjure up the spirits of the past to their service and borrow from them names, bat- tle-cries, and costumes in order to present the new scene of world history in this time-honoured disguise and this borrowed language.1 One historically contentious term that has been recycled in recent years in the public debate in Britain is that of “Victorian values”. For most of the 20th century, the word “Victorian” was associated with negative connotations of hypercritical morality, brutal industrial exploitation and colonial oppression. However, it was Mrs Thatcher who first gave the word a more positive political spin in the 1980s with her unabashed celebration of Victorian laissez-faire capitalism and patriotic fervour. This piece of historical obfuscation was aimed at disguising the grim reality of her neoliberal policies of economic privatisation, anti-trade union legislation, cut backs in the so-called “Nanny” Welfare State and the gunboat diplomacy of the Falklands War. -
Sir Michael Quinlan on RAF Policy 1962-65
ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL 24 2 The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the contributors concerned and are not necessarily those held by the Royal Air Force Historical Society. Copyright 2001: Royal Air Force Historical Society First published in the UK in 2001 by the Royal Air Force Historical Society All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing. ISSN 1361-4231 Typeset by Creative Associates 115 Magdalen Road Oxford OX4 1RS Printed by Professional Book Supplies Ltd 8 Station Yard Steventon Nr Abingdon OX13 6RX 3 CONTENTS ‘THE ROYAL AIR FORCE IN TRANSITION, 1962- 5 1965’: Address by Sir Michael Quinlan at the AGM held on 28th June 2000. BOSNIA 1992-1995 – A CASE STUDY IN THE 12 DENIAL OF THE ADVANTAGE CONFERRED BY AIR SUPERIORITY. A winning British Two Air Forces Award paper by Sqn Ldr S Harpum RAF. THE INFLUENCE OF SPACE POWER ON HISTORY 21 (1944-1998). A winning American Two Air Forces Award paper by Capt John Shaw USAF. THE DE HAVILLAND VENOM WITH No 8 SQN IN 36 THE MIDDLE EAST by Air Vice-Marshal L W Phipps. SQN LDR G D GRAHAM DSO MBE by Frank Card. 46 THE RAF HERALDRY TRUST. 56 SUMMARY OF THE MINUTES OF THE 60 FOURTEENTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD IN THE ROYAL AIR FORCE CLUB ON 28 JUNE 2000. FEEDBACK 64 BOOK REVIEWS. -
Falkland Islands War: Diplomatic Failure in April 1982
The Falkland Islands War: Diplomatic Failure in April 1982 By Joseph Mauro Wake Forest University The fate of over 1,000 souls was decided in April 1982. On April 2, Argentine Special Forces invaded and occupied the British Falkland Islands. For the next month, Britain and Argentina tried to resolve the conflict diplomatically. United States Secretary of State Alexander Haig served as mediator, shuttling multiple times between London and Buenos Aires. Haig and his team tried to develop a document to which both the Argentine military junta, led by President Leopoldo Galtieri, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher could agree. However, despite long hours in negotiations and a genuine desire of both sides to avoid war, agreement was never reached. The British counterattacked on May 1, and the fighting that resulted saw 1,054 soldiers and seamen die.1 Diplomacy in the Falkland Islands failed for a number of reasons. First, the negotiations were flawed, both in Haig’s uneasy position as mediator and the junta’s unreliable decision- making process. In addition, each side misunderstood the other. The Argentines never believed the British would counterattack and the British struggled to believe that Argentina wanted a peaceful solution. The possibility of oil under the islands also may have played a role. However, the most important impediment to diplomatic success was the fact that neither side was able to compromise enough to prevent war. The main reasons for this inflexibility were two-fold: both leaders needed to appear strong to remain in power, and the political climate at the time, especially in terms of diplomatic principles relating to the Cold War, prevented the British from yielding to the minimum Argentine demands. -
War and Media: Constancy and Convulsion
Volume 87 Number 860 December 2005 War and media: Constancy and convulsion Arnaud Mercier* Arnaud Mercier is professor at the university Paul Verlaine, Metz (France) and director of the Laboratory “Communication and Politics” at the French National Center for Scientifi c Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifi que, CNRS). Abstract To consider the relationship between war and the media is to look at the way in which the media are involved in conflict, either as targets (war on the media) or as an auxiliary (war thanks to the media). On the basis of this distinction, four major developments may be cited that today combine to make war above all a media spectacle: photography, which opened the door to manipulation through stage-management; live technologies, which raise the question of journalists’ critical distance vis-à-vis the material they broadcast and which can facilitate the process of using them; pressure on the media and media globalization, which have led to a change in the way the political and military authorities go about making propaganda; and, finally, the fact that censorship has increasingly come into disrepute, which has prompted the authorities to think of novel ways of controlling journalists. : : : : : : : The military has long integrated into its operational planning the principles of the information society and of a world wrapped into a tight network of infor- mation media. Controlling the way war is represented has acquired the same strategic importance as the ability to disrupt the enemies’ communications.1 The “rescue” of Private Jessica Lynch, which was filmed by the US Army on 1 April 2003, is a textbook example, even if the lies surrounding Private Lynch’s * This contribution is an adapted version of the article “Guerre et médias: permanences et mutations”, Raisons politiques, N° 13, février 2004, pp. -
Political and Diplomatic Lessons of the Falklands War
Political and Diplomatic Lessons of the Falklands War Ken Kotani Introduction This paper focuses on the Thatcher administration’s foreign diplomacy and conduct of war during the Falklands War. Full-fledged research on the history of this war has been facilitated by the publication of a detailed official history of the Falklands War by Professor Lawrence Freedman of King’s College London, along with the release of previously closed documents and other material by the British National Archives in December 2012.1 Leaving the details of the Falklands War to Freedman’s official history, this paper shall examine the Thatcher administration’s conduct of war, specifically: (1) the extent to which the Thatcher administration was aware of the situation before the war; and (2) the Thatcher administration’s foreign diplomacy and conduct of war. 1. Did Prime Minister Thatcher have a grasp of the situation? When unraveling the history of the Falklands War, the issues which always become the focus of debate are whether Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was adequately aware of the situation regarding the Falklands before the war, and if so, the degree to which she did and the reasons why she did not take earlier action. The Thatcher administration’s handling of the Falklands issue is often compared with the policy of deterrence adopted by James Callaghan’s Labour Party administration in 1977. The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) of the Cabinet Office estimated in October 1977 that Argentine forces were plotting a landing on the South Sandwich Islands, which was British territory. Prime Minister Callaghan accordingly made the risky decision to prepare for any contingency by sending a British fleet to stand by in the vicinity of the Falklands.2 Compared to the action taken by the Callaghan administration, the Thatcher administration’s actions in 1982 seem to lack a sense of urgency. -
15 Fortin AC
Cercles 28 (2013) THE FALKLANDS DISPUTE A COLONIAL ISSUE ? THIERRY FORTIN Université de Strasbourg Introduction The 180-year-long dispute between Argentina and the UK is back in the foreground with the 30th anniversary of the conflict and a revival of tension between the two nations following the oil drilling works undertaken by Britain since 2010 and the refusal to negotiate anything expressed by London. The Falklands case is an interesting one since it may slightly alter the classic vision of a smooth decolonisation process for Britain, as advocated by Clement Attlee in 1946 about the independence of India. The Falkland Islands, an archipelago of over 700 islands located at about 300 miles from the Argentine coast but unfortunately for London at about 8,000 miles from the British Isles, were seen from the beginning as a potential naval base in the South Atlantic with a possibility to control access between the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. Even if the islands were allegedly first discovered by John Davis in August 1592, the first claim, although not entirely official, was expressed by London in 1690, just after the first recorded discovery of the islands by Captain John Strong. But since the first permanent settlement seems to have been established by the French in 1764, followed by a British settlement a few months later (with the Spanish being worried about both), Paris could also claim sovereignty over the islands, which could cause even more escalation to an already sensitive subject. As Lowell Steven Gustafson explained, no one occupied or in any way used the islands until the French did in 1764 – 172 years after the alleged British discovery. -
Defence Mobilisation Planning Comparative
AUSTRALIA JOANNE NICHOLSON, PETER DORTMANS, MARIGOLD BLACK, MARTA KEPE, SARAH GRAND CLEMENT, ERIK SILFVERSTEN, JAMES BLACK, THEODORA OGDEN, LIVIA DEWAELE, PAU ALONSO GARCIA-BODE Defence Mobilisation Planning Comparative Study An Examination of Overseas Planning The research described in this RAND Australia report was prepared for Australian Department of Defence and was conducted within RAND Australia under Contract SON2901652. About RAND Australia RAND Australia’s mission is to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND’s publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors. To learn more about RAND Australia, visit www.rand.org/australia Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © 2021 RAND Australia R® is a registered trademark. For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RRA1179-1 Preface The Vice Chief of Defence Force (VCDF) has established a small Directorate within Force Design Division in response to significant changes in Australia’s strategic outlook, to ensure a contemporary mobilisation planning framework across Defence. This mobilisation planning process will be conducted over two and a half years and will include several research activities. In June 2020, RAND Australia was engaged by the Australian Department of Defence to undertake a series of material studies and analysis activities. RAND Australia was asked to undertake a comparative study of mobilisation planning in selected countries to discern principles for mobilisation planning. For this a comprehensive international literature review was undertaken spanning the United States, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and Singapore. To present the results so that they could be readily compared against each other, a research framework was constructed comprising examination of four areas: Planning Model, Activation, Attributes and Principles, and Forecast Trends. -
Corned Beef Raid on Embassy British Patriotism and the Falkland Conflict
Corned Beef Raid on Embassy British Patriotism and the Falkland Conflict By Adam Haney In 1982, Great Britain went to war over possession of the Falkland Islands. The islands themselves do not appear to be much to fight over. The Falklands, specifically speaking, are the two larger islands immediately off of the eastern coast of Argentina, near the Straits of Magellan. The Falklands War encompassed not only these two islands but the islands as far south and east as the South Sandwich Islands. It is from the two main islands of the group that the name of the conflict originates. Physically, the islands are not much to look at. Ronald Reagan described them as "That little ice-cold bunch of land down there."< 1> They have also been called "An island thrown aside from human use."< 2> Clearly, these islands are not exactly the stuff that legends are made over. However, the Falkland Islands have had a place in the joint history of Britain and Argentina since 1690, when a British ship sighted the islands and gave them the name of the Treasurer of the Royal Navy, Viscount Falkland.< 3> At the time of their discovery, the islands were unsettled. There are no people who can claim them as their homeland.< 4> The islands lay to the west of the Papal line of Demarcation, a line that was drawn to divide the so-called New World between the then powers of the sea, Spain and Portugal. The Pope gave everything to the west of the line to Spain, this included all of South America except for Brazil; everything to the east belonged to Portugal. -
The Argentine Invasion of the Falklands and International Norms of Signalling
Incident In our previous issue, the Journal devoted considerable space to the intro- duction of the "incident" as a genre in the study of internationallaw. As explained in that issue, an incident is an internationaldispute that has been appraisedby relevant internationalactors for its lawfulness, but in an infor- mal, nonjudicial setting, and which shapes or reinforces elite expectations about lawfulness. Readers are referred to Volume 10, Issue I of the Journal for a detailed treatment of the genre and its methodology, together with four case studies. With this issue, we introduce the incident study as a regular section of the Journal. The Argentine Invasion of the Falklands and International Norms of Signalling Michael P. Socarrast I. Problem Among the forms of communication through which states conduct their relations is the tacit exchange of messages, or "signalling." ' For example, when state A temporarily recalls its ambassador from state B, established norms which are used by the international community to in- terpret signals lead state B to see the act as a message of A's displeasure at the current course of their relationship. Similar interpretive norms are used to ascribe increasing seriousness to the complete withdrawal of an ambassador, and finally to the rupture of diplomatic relations. In the years preceding the Falklands2 War of 1982, the United Kingdom and Argentina exchanged signals concerning their dispute over the legal sta- t J.D. Candidate, Yale University. 1. "There are many ways other than verbal declarations by which states may communicate their intentions." G. SNYDER, DETERRENCE AND DEFENSE: TOWARD A THEORY OF NA- TIONAL SECURITY 252 (1961). -
Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal 18
ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL 18 2 The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the contributors concerned and are not necessarily those held by the Royal Air Force Historical Society. First Published in the UK in 1998 Copyright © 1998: Royal Air Force Historical Society. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission from the Publisher in writing. ISSN 1361-4231 Printed by Fotodirect Ltd Enterprise Estate, Crowhurst Road Brighton, East Sussex BN1 8AF Tel 01273 563111 3 CONTENTS Page SOME REFLECTIONS – Rt Hon Lord Merlyn-Rees 6 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 10th June 1997 19 SOUTH ARABIA AND THE WITHDRAWAL FROM ADEN 24 AIRMAN’S CROSS – Postscript 100 AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR DENIS SMALLWOOD 103 BOOK REVIEWS 106 CORRESPONDENCE 121 NOTICES 124 4 ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY President: Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Michael Beetham GCB CBE DFC AFC Vice-President: Air Marshal Sir Frederick Sowrey KCB CBE AFC Committee Chairman: Air Vice-Marshal N B Baldwin CB CBE General Secretary: Wing Commander C G Jefford MBE BA Membership Secretary: Dr Jack Dunham PhD CPsychol AMRAeS Treasurer: Desmond Goch Esq FCAA Members: *J S Cox BA MA *Dr M A Fopp MA FMA FIMgt Group Captain J D Heron OBE *Group Captain S W Peach BA RAF Air Commodore H A Probert MBE MA Editor, Publications Derek H Wood Esq AFRAeS Publications Manager Roy Walker Esq ACIB *Ex officio 5 INTRODUCTION BY SOCIETY CHAIRMAN Air Vice-Marshal Baldwin after the 11th AGM Ladies and gentlemen it is a pleasure to welcome as our guest this evening Lord Merlyn-Rees, an ex-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Home Secretary and, just as important from our point of view, an ex RAF squadron leader. -
Falklands Royal Navy Wives: Fulfilling a Militarised Stereotype Or Articulating Individuality?
Falklands Royal Navy Wives: fulfilling a militarised stereotype or articulating individuality? Victoria Mary Woodman The thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Portsmouth. December 2018 Abstract ‘Falklands Royal Navy Wives: fulfilling a militarised stereotype or articulating individuality?’ Key words: Falklands War/1980s/naval wives/oral history/remembrance/commemoration/gendered conflict/media/naval welfare/PTSD This thesis demonstrates that Falklands naval wives were not the homogeneous and stereotypical group portrayed in the media, but individuals experiencing specific effects of conflict on combatants, wives and families. It contributes originally to oral history by exploring retrospective memories of Falkland’s naval wives and their value to wider history. Falklands naval wives as individuals had not been researched before. The conflict was fought in the media using gendered and paternalistic language and images, a binary of man fighting versus woman serving the home front. The aim is to widen the scope of the gender, social, naval and cultural history of the Falklands Conflict by recording naval wives’ views before they were lost, thereby offering new insight into the history of the Falklands Conflict. Original research described in this thesis addresses several important research questions: 1. If a group of naval wives underwent the same events, would their views/thoughts/ experiences be comparable? 2. Was the image depicted in existing literature the only view? 3. Did the naval community differ from the rest of society; how were its gender roles defined? 4. Did the wives’ thoughts and feelings differ from those reported in the press? 5. -
Logics of War: Explanations for Limited and Unlimited Conflicts
Logics of War A volume in the series Cornell Studies in Security Affairs edited by Robert J. Art, Robert Jervis, and Stephen M. Walt A list of titles in the series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Logics of War Explanations for Limited and Unlimited Confl icts Alex Weisiger Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a subvention from the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania which aided in the publication of this book. Copyright © 2013 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2013 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Weisiger, Alex, 1977– Logics of war: explanations for limited and unlimited confl icts / Alex Weisiger. p. cm. — (Cornell studies in security affairs) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5186-7 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. War—Causes. 2. Limited war. 3. Low-intensity confl icts (Military science) 4. Total war. I. Title. JZ6385.W45 2013 355.02—dc23 2012043954 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fi bers.