Raising of Argentinian flag sparked the Falklands War
MAR 19, 1982
IT was the day – and a simple action – that marked an iconic moment in history.
And it was the day most people first heard about the Falkland Islands.
On March 19, 1982, a group of Argentinians landed at the British colony of the islands in the South Atlantic and planted their nation’s flag.
In fact, it was rather a large group – 50 to be precise.
They landed at Leith Harbour, on South Georgia, about 1400 miles east of the Falklands.
Until that point, South Georgia was a dependency of the disputed Falkland Islands, which Britain had claimed in 1833.
The group were understood to have a commercial contract to remove scrap metal, but soon after their arrival, reports started to circulate that they came aboard in a ship chartered by the Argentine Government.
The British Government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841.
Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th Century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and favour British sovereignty.
Initially, the Argentinians – who claimed sovereignty over the Falklands since the end of Spanish rule – were asked to leave and seek British permission to work on the island, despite no indication of what their motivation was or whether they had hostile intentions.
But the events were seen as a provocative step in the ongoing dispute over the sovereignty of the islands.
Neither state officially declared war, but both sides did declare the Island areas a war zone and officially recognised that a state of war existed between them.
The hostilities escalated rapidly and by April 2, the Argentinians had invaded the capital of Port Stanley and forced the governor, Rex Hunt, to surrender.
It was the beginning of three months of conflict, as the Argentinians had not expected the British to retaliate.
But they did and ultimately emerged victorious.
Relations between the UK and Argentina were thawed in 1989 following a meeting in Spain, at which the two countries issued a joint statement.
No change in either country’s position regarding the sovereignty of the Falklands was made explicit.
In 1994, Argentina’s claim to the territories was added to its constitution.
Patriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina in particular, but the outcome prompted large protests against the military government and hastened its ultimate demise.
The events were seen as a provocative step in