Events leading to the Falklands War

There were many events leading to the 1982 Falklands War (Guerra de Malvinas in Spanish) between the United Kingdom and Argentina over possession of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia (Georgia del Sur).

The Falkland Islands had been the subject of a sovereignty dispute almost since they were first settled in 1764, between Great Britain and the later United Kingdom on one side, and successively France, Spain, and the United Provinces of the River Plate (later Argentina) on the other. A settlement was successfully established on the islands in 1828 by the Huguenot merchant Luis Vernet, (although there had been British, French and Spanish settlements before then). Vernet had acquired permission for his venture from both the Government of the United Provinces and the British Consulate.

Vernet provided regular reports to the British and had requested their protection for his settlement should they return. Britain made diplomatic protests when Vernet was appointed Governor by the United Provinces and both Britain and the United States made diplomatic protests over the attempt to curtail rights to sealing on the islands. After Vernet seized American ships sealing in the islands and confiscated their catch, the United States dispatched a warship to the islands, resulting in the abandonment of Puerto Soledad and the voluntary repatriation of many of the settlers.

Subsequently, the United Provinces tried to re-establish the settlement at Puerto Soledad as a penal colony, but a mutiny resulted in the murder of one Governor. Shortly after that mutiny had been quelled, in January 1833, a British naval task force arrived charged with the re-establishment of British rule on the islands. The British requested that the Argentine administration leave the islands, who complied with that request without a shot being fired. Contrary to popular belief, the settlers on the island were not expelled at the same time, but were encouraged by the British to remain. The islands remained continuously in British possession from then until 1982.

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