The Empire Strikes Back
Crown colonies like Rhodesia were granted their independence. The world applauded at how diplomatic Britain was in handling it.The Falkland Islands, located in the Atlantic, 250 miles off the coast of Argentina, changed all that. No more Mr. Nice guy. Britain had held the oil rich islands since the 1830s, but Argentina insisted they had a prior claim on what they called the "Malvinas."The British proposed a long-term lease, which was rejected by the military junta. Governor of the islands, Sir Rex Hunt on hearing of Argentine invasion plans:"Sounds like the buggers mean it." Mean it they did. Britain reacted and off went the daunting HMS Dauntless, a task force consisting of 28,000 troops and over 100 ships, while the Argentinean forces were limited to 12,000 mainly conscripted soldiers and only 40 vessels.Two months later, more than six hundred Argentineans had died and the battle was lost. The British victory, with minimal casualties, resulted in a boom of domestic support for Thatcher, (the recent movie was widely panned in Argentina) and jingoism from the tabloids. Heading into the 30-year Commemoration of the "Forgotten War" this April, Argentina is still pushing for more talks with the UK and 75 percent of its people still want the islands.Tensions are mounting.Again. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has actually accused Argentina of "colonizing."The British Empire, which at its height included approximately 458 million people, one-fifth of the world's population and covered a quarter of the Earth's total land area, isn't about to give up one of its last remnants without a fight.Fortunately, it's still a war of words.