Why the Falklands War?

What the Falklands War meant to the people of Britain.

In March of 2007, Britain will mark the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. Although of little strategic significance, this limited war against Argentina, had a profound impact on British national identity and pride.

The first few years of the 1980s were a dark time in Britain. Unemployment had skyrocketed to levels not seen since the Great Depression. Over 3 million Brits were without work. In 1981 a series of deadly and destructive riots had torn through the urban centres of the country. At the same time, the threat of the Warsaw Pact and possible nuclear war loomed over all of Western Europe.

Then in 1982 a South American military dictatorship invaded British Territory. For many Brits it seemed a crisis moment, a moment when the country could roll over an except that its days of glory and importance as a global power were gone, or it could once again raise the flag and fight. The Falklands War was a short bloody fight, and though the UK certainly had the better military it was fighting the war at a distance of nearly 8,000 miles. The victory in the Falklands proved that Britain could still project its military might and political will over a vast distance and it brought together the citizens of Britain in a common cause. The islands of the Falklands may be unimportant in the grand scheme of world politics, but Britain’s ability to fight for them is not.