Falklands War (2 magg 1982 anni – 14 giug 1982 anni)

Descrizione:

The Conservatives mindset was simple: British land has been taken and needed to be brought back. The Labour party supported the government primarily a party that suggests it will not fight back if invaded will not appeal to voters. British forces made their way to the Islands, although the government still attempted diplomatic exchanges with Argentina.

However all attempts stopped on the 2 May when the Argentinean ship, General Belgrano, was sunk by British forces, killing 300 men. With many British applauding this act, the Sunday headline for this was "GOTCHA".

The Argentinean army responded on the 4th May by sinking HMS Sheffield. In total, seven ships were sunk during the war.

Although the USA had praised Argentine for their war against communism, Thatcher's special relationship was shown when Regan allowed Britain to use Ascension Island as a base.

On 21st May, 4,000 British troops made it onto Argentina. Although outnumbered, the British army was superior sue to most of the Argentinean army being enlisted. The Argentinean army surrendered on the 14th June. 649 Argentineans troops died, 215 British troops and three civilians died.

The Falklands War promoted itself with patriotism. Although anti-war critics existed, most of the British public was drunk on British pride. This caused Thatcher to shoot from the most unpopular Prime Minister to having the Tories beat both Labour and the Liberal/SDP by ten points. It is arguable that this resulted in a khaki election, however in the 1983 election, there was a slight loss of votes compared to the 1979 election. The Falklands War may have influences people's opinions on Thatcher, but not their votes.

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