Falklands War Timeline

France provided significant support to Britain during the war; in a 2002 interview, Defence Secretary John Nott described France as Britain's 'greatest ally', though in 2012 it emerged a French technical team employed by Dassault remained in Argentina throughout the war despite a presidential decree.

Troops garrisoning Port Howard reported severe food deprivation, and according to Hastings and Jenkins in The Battle for the Falklands (1984), attempts to go absent without leave were punished by beatings or being forced to sit for hours with bare feet in freezing water.

Image source: Port Howard

Operations of the Falklands War lasted from 1 April 1982 to 20 June 1982, encompassing the Argentine invasion, the British task force's voyage south, the recapture of South Georgia and the Falklands, and the surrender of Argentine forces.

When the British Task Force arrived at Ascension Island in mid-April 1982, the underground fuel tanks were empty and the leading assault ship, HMS Fearless, did not have enough fuel to dock when it arrived off the island.

Peru transferred ten Hercules transport planes to Argentina soon after the British Task Force had set sail in April 1982, providing material support to the Argentine war effort.

On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious landings on the Falkland Islands, known as Operation Rosario, beginning the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the islands and their dependencies.

Image source: 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands

The day after invading the Falkland Islands, Argentina invaded South Georgia on 3 April 1982, extending its occupation to Britain's dependencies in the South Atlantic.

On 30 April 1982, the Argentine magazine Tal Cual showed Prime Minister Thatcher with an eyepatch and the text: 'Pirate, witch and assassin', reflecting Argentine hostility toward the British leader during the conflict.

The waves of eight LCUs and eight LCVPs during the British landings were led by Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour, who had commanded the Falklands detachment NP8901 from March 1978 to 1979 and knew the islands' waters intimately.

The sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was a pivotal moment of the war. In 2003, the ship's captain, Hector Bonzo, stated that the Belgrano had been manoeuvring, not sailing away from the exclusion zone, and had orders to sink any British ship he could find.

Image source: ARA General Belgrano

The final British negotiating position was presented to Argentina by UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar on 18 May 1982, as last-ditch diplomatic efforts to avert full-scale fighting failed.

On 20 May 1982, New Zealand announced that HMNZS Canterbury, a Leander-class frigate, would be made available for use where the British thought fit to release a Royal Navy vessel for the Falklands campaign.

Image source: HMNZS Canterbury (F421)

The conflict ended on 20 June 1982, after ten weeks of war in the South Atlantic, with Argentine forces surrendering and the United Kingdom restoring control over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The principal British military responses to the Falklands War were the measures adopted in the December 1982 Defence White Paper, which addressed lessons learned from the conflict.

The 1982 Liberation Memorial, the most notable of several memorials on the Falkland Islands, was unveiled in 1984 on the second anniversary of the end of the war.

Image source: 1982 Liberation Memorial

In 1984, following the return of democracy in Argentina, The Children of the War (Los chicos de la guerra), directed by Bebe Kamin, emerged as the first film to confront the conflict directly.

A permanent military complex with a runway designed to take long-haul airliners was constructed in the south of East Falkland; RAF Mount Pleasant opened in 1985, with an associated deep-water port at Mare Harbour also constructed.

Image source: RAF Mount Pleasant

A memorial to the Royal Marines, known as 'the Yomper', was unveiled by Margaret Thatcher in 1992 outside the former Eastney Barracks near Portsmouth, commemorating the marines who fought in the war.

Image source: Yomp

The Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel at Pangbourne College opened in March 2000 as a commemoration of the lives and sacrifice of all those who served and died in the South Atlantic in 1982.

Image source: Pangbourne College

A small British military outpost established at King Edward Point on South Georgia after the war was closed in 2001, ending a permanent garrison presence there.

Image source: King Edward Point

At the turn of the century, another acclaimed film appeared: Blessed by Fire (Iluminados por el fuego, 2005), directed by Tristán Bauer, exploring the experiences of Argentine conscript veterans of the war.

In May 2008, the Falkland Islands Government asserted that the minefields, representing 0.1% of available farmland, 'present no long term social or economic difficulties', and that clearing the mines would cause more problems than containing them.

Image source: Falkland Islands

In May 2012, a Falklands War memorial was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire at a service attended by 600 veterans and their families; the names of the fallen were also inscribed on the Armed Forces Memorial there.

Image source: National Memorial Arboretum

In May 2012, it was announced that 3.7 km2 of Stanley Common was made safe and opened to the public, opening up a 3 km stretch of coastline and two further kilometres of shoreline along Mullet Creek.

In November 2020, after a final clearance campaign by contractors from Zimbabwe, it was declared that the Falkland Islands were now free of all landmines, fulfilling the UK's commitments under the Mine Ban Treaty. No civilian mine casualties have ever occurred on the islands.

The islanders had full British citizenship restored in 1983; their quality of life improved through investments made by the UK after the war and by economic liberalisation that had previously been stalled for fear of angering Argentina.

Image source: Falkland Islanders

Argentina returned to democratic government in the 1983 general election, the first free general election since 1973. The war had a major social impact, destroying the military's image as the 'moral reserve of the nation'.

Image source: 1983 Argentine general election

In 1985, a new constitution was enacted for the Falkland Islands, promoting self-government which has continued to devolve power to the islanders.

Image source: Constitution of the Falkland Islands

Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were restored in 1989 following a meeting in Madrid, at which the two governments issued a joint statement.

In 1994, Argentina amended its constitution, declaring the Falkland Islands as part of one of its provinces by law, maintaining its sovereignty claim over the islands.

The result of the 2013 Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum was 99.8% of the electorate voting for the islands to remain a British territory, with a voter turnout of 92%.