June 14 – Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands

nPostednJune 14, 2013

nArgentinaninvaded Great Britain?

nDuringnmy lifetime? (Actually, it only missed being in my daughter’snlifetime by 11 days!)

nYes,non April 2, 1982, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, which werenBritish territory at the time. It seems quite surprising until younlearn where the islands are, and their history.

Younsee, the Falklands are about 310 miles (500 km) off the coast ofnArgentina, in the South Atlantic Ocean. They were uninhabited whennthey were discovered by Europeans in the 16^th Centuryn(although they probably had been visited by Native Americans). Thenfirst to sight them may have been the Dutch explorer Sebald de Weert;nhe named the islands the Sebald Islands.

nButnPortugal, Spain, and Britain also had claims that they were the firstnto discover the islands.

nInn1690, British Captain John Strong was driven off course by weathernand reached the Falkland Islands. He may have been the first Europeannto land there; he named the water the Falkland Channel, after thenViscount who had financed his voyage, and the islands were thereforencalled the Falkland Islands.

nThenfirst settlement on the islands was founded by a French navigator,nwho called the islands Malouines, but shortly after that annEnglish explorer claimed one of the islands for his nation and helpednconstruct a settlement. Spain acquired the French colony, renamed thenislands las Malvinas, and tried to expel the British—and itnlooked like the two nations would fight a war! But they reached anpeace agreement that apparently took the form of “we’ll stay overnhere, and you stay over there.” However, soon after this thenRevolutionary War broke out in America, and the British troops werenrecalled from the outpost on the Falklands. They left behind a plaquenthat said something like, “Hey! We’ll be back! This is still ours!”nI guess the Spaniards thought that was a good idea, because when theynlater withdrew from the island, they left behind a plaque, too—younknow, “Still ours!” or some such.

Another thing about the Falklands is
that they are pretty gorgeous!

nAfternthat messy beginning for the Falklands—located near Argentina,ndiscovered by the Netherlands, landed on by England, settled bynFrance, claimed by Britain and Spain, abandoned by all—the peoplenof Argentina, who had fought for and won independence from Spain,nbegan to claim the empty (but twice be-plaqued) islands. An Argentinensettlement was founded, and a penal colony was begun but failed whennthe prisoners revolted! A United States warship scuffled with thenArgentines, and British forces returned and worked with thenArgentines at times and against them at other times.

nDoesn’tnit seem as if there was an awful lot of attention on these smallnislands? Do you suppose the islands were filled with gold orndiamonds? No, they weren’t, but various nations decided that theirnposition was a good strategic point for navigation around Cape Horn.nShipping was more and more important as the various powers of thenworld established far-flung colonies or expanded their borders. Somenpeople in the U.S. found it preferable to travel from the East Coastnto the gold fields of California by ocean—traveling all the waynaround the Cape-Horn tip of South America—rather than making thenrisky trip over the plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the SierranNevada Mountains. So the Falklands became more and more desirable.

nSo…therenwere skirmishes and diplomacy, treaties and violence. There was evenna battle at the islands during World War I! Argentina seemed to havena pretty good claim, since the islands were close to its borders andnit had settled them soon after becoming an independent nation, whennthe island was empty.

nHowever, as talks occurred during the secondnhalf of the 20^th Century, including negotiations held atnthe newly-established U.N., Argentina’s claims came short, because most of the people who actually lived on the islands, many of whom were ofnBritish descent, wanted to remain part of the British Empire.

These guys don’t care who rules the islands!

nBattle!

nThenArgentine forces surprised the world by invading, and they succeedednfor a short time. Their claim that they were rightly taking backntheir own territory was supported by most countries in Latin America,nalthough only Peru provided aircraft and missiles to Argentina. Mostnof Europe took Britain’s side, and Chile broke with its SouthnAmerican neighbors by allowing the Brits to use its harbors andnairports to stage a military response to the invasion. The U.S.nhemmed and

n
n
nhawed for a while, said it was neutral, and then finallynsided with the Brits.
n

A few of these signs dot
the Argentine border. They
use the Spanish name for the
Falkland Islands and claim that
they are Argentine.

nTherenwere a few naval battles. There were skirmishes in the air. On May 21nBritish forces landed on one of the islands and began a landncampaign. The Argentine forces finally surrendered on this date inn1982. And that is why it is called “Liberation Day.”

Deathntoll:

n3nFalkland civilians

n255nBritish troops

n649nArgentine troops

nAndnall so that things could go back to exactly the way they were: bothnArgentina AND Great Britain (the U.K.) still claim the islands to benrightfully theirs! Sigh…

nAlsonon this date: