In 1914...

1914 The Battle of the Falkland Islands

A month after German naval forces led by Admiral Maximilian von Spee inflicted the Royal Navy’s first defeat in a century by sinking two British cruisers with all hands off the southern coast of Chile, Spee’s squadron attempts to raid the Falkland Islands, located in the southern Atlantic Ocean, only to be thwarted by the British navy. Under the command of Admiral Doveton Sturdee, the British seamen sought vengeance on behalf of their defeated fellows.

Too bad the Argentines didn't take note of that.

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Two reasons they might have thought this irrelevant. In 1914 Great Britain had arguably the most powerful navy in the world. It also had the biggest Empire in history which was the reason for the navy used to protect its interests. It was very different in 1982, a fact that our Andrew still seems blissfully unaware of.

PS. http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/3541.html

I think misreading the political situation & the person they were dealing with was their biggest mistake. All the signs were that Britain had lost interest in the Falkland Islands & not many people in Britain had ever heard of this remote place or any idea where in the world it was. Even I thought the operation was a bluff & didn't believe it could possibly succeed even while it was happening.

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Agreed!

A lesson learned, they should have taken a clue from how the US gave up control over the Panama Canal.  Get a constituent group to complain that their country have no right to control  land they don't deserve to control.  The only way you can defeat a strong entity is to convince it that it's best interest is not served by continuing it's course of action.  That's what happened in the US.  All of a sudden, we heard this watershed opinion that we had no right to control the Panama Canal zone.  At the time, I wondered "where did all this come from?"  I still wonder.

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This is true Craig but I'm not certain how long it will continue. It's quite possible that the British government will come to some sort of deal over Gibraltar & also the Falklands despite the residents wishes. Look at what happened in Hong Kong for example.

I've never visited & not likely to but from what I'm told life in the Falkland Islands is very different now to what it was before 1982. Things will never be the same & even some of the residents that remained there might feel differently now.

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I see your point & also that it's quite possible the British public would have felt the same way about the Falkland Islands had the Argentine government approached it in a different way. The fact is that they & the British government had a point to prove & both took advantage of the national feelings in their respective countries. The fate of the islanders themselves would not have been uppermost in the British government's minds.

My point about Hong Kong is that Britain is no longer capable of maintaining the remaining outposts of the old Empire like Gibraltar & the Falkland Islands. It simply doesn't have the resources & the commitments of its armed forces are stretched to the limit as it is. Britain is no longer a world power & whether there was a 99-year lease on Hong Kong or not I'm quite certain that we would never have given in so easily in different circumstances. The thought of giving up one of our colonies of considerable strategic value would simply never have arisen.

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You & your Dad might be interested to read this book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0304355429/202-6303327-2531055
Commander 'Sharkey' Ward commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Invincible & is very critical about how the whole operation was handled. He left the service soon afterwards.

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That thought had occurred to me.

I'll be interested in his opinions as he was there.