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All about the Falklands War

What happened in the war?

Argentina had not expected the UK to

fight over such a small territory. A “task

force” of ships was put together to take

soldiers, planes and weapons to fight in the

Falklands – a journey that took almost three

weeks. During the conflict, several British and

Argentinian ships were sunk and dozens of

Argentinian planes were shot down.

On 21 May, British soldiers landed on the

islands and started fighting their way towards

the capital, a small town called Port Stanley.

Eventually, Argentina surrendered and the

war ended on 14 June, 74 days after the

Argentinian invasion. Overall, 649 Argentinian

and 255 British soldiers, sailors and pilots were

killed, as well as three people who lived

on the islands. A survey at the time found

that 88% of people in the UK supported

the war. Margaret Thatcher became

much more popular because of the war

but General Galtieri was removed from

power days after the conflict ended.

The UK and Argentina now

Argentina has said that the war did

not solve the argument over who owns

the islands. The UK has kept a strong

military presence there and the UK

Government has said that the islands

should remain British because the

people who live there want it to. A

vote in 2013 showed that 99.8% of the

islands’ population of 3,680 people

wanted to remain British. Last month,

Port Stanley was awarded city status.

ar-off conflict

Birds

Around 60 species

of birds go to the

islands to breed. These

include the Falkland

pipit and Cobb’s wren.

Alongside these, you

might find the rare

striated caracara, locally

known as Johnny Rook.

Almost all (human) residents

consider themselves British.

Raising the flag at

the end of the war.

11 June 2022 • The Week Junior

Southern elephant seal. Striated caracara.

East

Falkland Port

Stanley

Darwin

Port San Carlos

North

Arm

Wellwishers welcome home

members of the military.

Newspapers

report the war.

Royal Marines with a Falklands

flag after the war ended.

A Royal Navy

warship.