Thatcher and the Falklands War

There is no doubt that the Falklands War was one of the single greatest event that boosted her political career. On April 2 when the Argentine navy stepped on to the beaches of the islands, Margeret Thatcher amazed when she decide to take a drastic response to the situation. One day later, on April 3, approval was given to let a naval task force sail down to the islands and take care of the problem

Thatcher's Response 

 After the first attack from the Argentineans, Thatcher was determined to get the Falkland Islands back and thus she decided to send the British naval force to defend the territory. The decision to sink the Argentinean cruiser was made even though that very decision would make Britain look like “aggressors in war”. The sinking of the General Belgrano was the ignition spark needed for the war to begin.Thatcher felt responsible for the deaths brought on by the war so she wrote letters by hand to all the British families that had lost someone; thanking the soldiers for their brave input and expressing her condolences.Thatcher decided that Britain was to go to war even though the country was on the brink of collapse and despite of the struggle Britain won the 74 days long war. Since Thatcher and the government believed that Britain had been ambushed they had the right to act in defence. There was no negotiation between the two sides due to Thatcher’s refusal to negotiate with “criminals” and her fierce determination to finish the war that the opposing side had started. 
     

    Thatcher before and after      

Margaret Thatcher’s war, perhaps better known as the Falklands war, was a war that changed Thatcher in different ways. To what extent is it correct to say that the Falklands war was really Thatcher’s war? Also, how strongly did the war affect Thatcher?

In 1978, Thatcher became prime minister of England. Thatcher was the first female prime minister in England, which made her very popular. Something else that made her famous was that she managed to carry the British economy through times of crisis. Thatcher succeeded in reducing inflation, but unemployment dramatically increased. People reacted both in a positive way and a negative way. However, Thatcher’s popularity decreased slowly, and she was not very popular in 1981 anymore, according to polls. Then suddenly Argentine troops invaded the Falkland Islands on the second of April 1982. The Falkland Islands were under British control before. Most of the people saw this as a minor threat; however Thatcher wasn’t one of these people. Against all the people’s expectations Thatcher sent troops to the islands. Thatcher actually saw this as an opportunity to help the British economy. Though, that was not the only reason for sending British troops to the islands, but it was also a good method to regain popularity. The war lasted for two months and ended with England being victorious. Thatcher became the hero and regained her popularity. One year later, Thatcher decided to hold elections and became re-elected; this was a very clever move by Thatcher, because she was still considered a hero and she knew that lots of people would vote for her. Thatcher felt the public’s full support and started to refer to herself using the word “we”.  Calling yourself “we”, is usually used by royalties, not by prime ministers. Thatcher considered herself to be more than just a prime minister. A famous moment when Thatcher uses the word “we” is when she gets her first grandchild, she says: “We have become a grandmother”. Regaining popularity is one thing that the Falklands war changed Thatcher. Another change is the role that Thatcher played in saving the economy. Thatcher got also re-elected due to the war, which might not have happened if the war had not happened.  

Government Actions

During the Falklands War Mrs. Thatcher was the leader of the recently put together War Cabinet. In the Official History of the Falklands Campaign she is described to be very dominating of the cabinet, but she still  “did not ignore opposition or fail to consult others. However, once a decision was reached she "did not look back", as the author Lawrance Freedman puts it. It was the head of the navy, Sir Henry Leach who was her military advisor and not the cautious Admiral Terence Lewin, who was away. Leach was her lifeline, for he also wanted to recapture the islands, and she needed all the support she could get.

Yes, Thatcher was steadfast in her politics and was at times critisised by other leaders and politicians. When the Falklands had come under Argentinian control, both the parliament and the public were surprised by her decision to send a task force to recapture the islands. Among these people was the American president Ronald Reagan, who had been backing the Argentinian junta before but now supported Britain with vital logistics, making the Anglo-American relationship complicated. But, since Thatcher had made strong connections between Britain and the U.S., by also being anti-communist the situation resolved. The U.S. was opposed to the war but kept small forces on standby, in case the war turned into a disaster.

One of the major decisions made by Thatcher during the war was the sinking of the the Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgrano, which led to the Argentinian retreat. This decision, however, was harshly critisised by the Labour MP Tam Dalyell in the parliament, but Thatcher stood her ground, claiming that the naval threat of the Belgrano was imminent.

Public Reactions to the Falklands War

When the Argentinian military invaded the Falklands, most Brits had to get up and check their atlas of where the islands really are. However, the astonishment really hit the public later, when it was announced that Thatcher was going to send a taskforce to ‘sort out the problem’. Surprisingly enough, Thatcher’s ruthless approach really hit home with the public. The cover of the magazine 'Newsweek' the following week had the title 'The Empire Strikes Back', the factor that Thatcher was deploying the navy gave people the sense that once again it was ‘Britannia rules the waves’ and that the navy was protecting its land in all corners of the world.

The Falklands war appeared extensively in media and in literature. There were TV-series made, books and poems, most of the focused on the negative impact of the war. An Argentine poet named Jorge Luis Borges depicted the war in one of his poems as “two bald men fighting over a comb”. The war dramatically increased rivalry in sports competitions. Argentine football players playing in Britain left the country; international events where England played Argentina were particularly intense encounters.

Authors: Linnea Warnemyr, Daniel Barnes, Robert Monster, Kristina Salén and Elizabeth Fomon