The Falklands: The Remote Islands that Triggered the First Modern War 

cold wet windy. just like home. sounds like the UK to me

How the media continues to preemptively report on their own military’s operations to their country’s detriment will never cease to aggravate me

H982FKL : The licence plate almost started a war

What the British pulled off here was seriously impressive. The Argentinian dictatorship gambled here and it blew up in their faces.

Thank you Simon. I was serving on HMS Coventry the day we were sunk. Very poignant memories for me. My thoughts are always with those we lost not only on my ship but throughout the conflict. Not the warmest swim I've ever had.

My eldest daughter served in the Falklands when she was in the royal navy and knows first hand just how much the people of the Falklands want to stay as british, the British military are made welcome everywhere they go from Stanley to the smallest sheep barn. Its also very telling that both cemeteries are well tended by the inhabitants of the islands.

The Argentinian claim is based on the original Spanish settlement that took over when the first British and French ones left. In other words their own claim is based off of colonization.😑

There were wide-ranging influences on popular culture in both the UK and Argentina, from the immediate postwar period to the present. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges described the war as "a fight between two bald men over a comb." The words yomp and Exocet entered the British vernacular as a result of the war. The Falklands War also provided material for theater, film, and TV drama and influenced the output of musicians. In Argentina, the military government banned the broadcasting of music in the English language, giving way to the rise of local musicians.

I will forever be proud of my Dad for his service in the Falklands. He was in 11th Field Squadron Royal Engineers. He was on the Sir Bedivire when it got hit by a bomb, which luckily didn't explode and bounced off. He helped build a Harrier and helicopter landing strip at San Carlos, which was a difficult job as they lost all their suplies when the Atlantic Conveyor was sunk. They then spent 3 weeks as infantry where he very narrowly missed being killed by a landmine, the man in front of him was blown up and Dad was knocked back. He remained in the Falklands after the war had ended as they were there to help "tidy up" after, finally returning home in July. He always said he left a piece of his heart in the Falklands and was planning to go back with some of his old quadron but the pandemic delayed it and by the time it was rescheduled he was too sick to be able to go. He passed away of cancer at the end of March and quite a few of his squardon came to the funeral which was incredibly touching. His favourite animal was penguins due to his time in the Falklands, they couldn't write home about the war so he wrote about the penguins. He had the Falklands flag draped over his coffin at his funeral, which we know he would've appreciated.

This was Argentina's fuck around and find out moment.

Did two tours on the Falklands , first was 89-90 second was 99, enjoyed both ,For such a small place at the end of the world ther has been a large amount of conflict involving the place , big naval battle in WW1 and was also involved in the sinking of the Graf Spee in WW2 .The only bits of HMS Hood above water are on the Falkland Islands ...

My daughters go to a small village school in Dorset a village that was considered a thankful village having lost no combatants to war in both 14-18 and 39-45. (They left and all came home) But sadly the village did lose a son on HMS Sheffield during the Falklands conflict.

Thank you Simon for your fascinating videos! I'm one of the few Americans who has actually been to The Falklands, as part of an Antarctica/ South Georgia Island trip 20 years ago. it was somewhat bleak and still had mined areas.

One little-known fact that would have been very relevant is that Argentina bought up the entire British stock of maps of the Falklands Islands in the lead-up to the invasion, this was only discovered when Britain was preparing the expeditionary force (a major embarrassment for the British Overseas Survey and Ordnance Survey who do the British mapping, and a massive printing effort in Southampton as there had been no need for printing more seen when the maps were initially sold).

Galtieri needed a war to prop up his regime unaware that Thatcher needed the same

A friend of mine lives there, he got loads of military vehicles after the military left them for scrap, I have sent him parts over the last 20 years for some of them.

Simon should cover the war in greater depth on warographics

A fun fact: The General Belgrano was originally the USS Phoenix, commissioned in 1938. She was at Pearl Harbour when it was attacked on 7 December, 1941.

I work with a gentleman that served in The Falklands in the British Royal Marines. Great guy, can always count in him. I spent 21 years in the U.S. Marine Corp and I feel a kindrid spirit that exists amongst Marines, no matter where they are from. Semper Fidelis.

Rest in peace to those that passed away.

Talking with my then German brother in law at the time, he assumed like most, that the UK gove would accept the reality on the ground and give up the islands. But I pointed to the famous photo of the British marines lying on the ground with Argentine soldiers standing over them and said. 'No, there will be war as very few countries would accept that level of national humiliation' and certainly not Thatcher's Britain.

I remember that day very, very well. I was serving in the RCN at that time and had worked with the RN on a few occasions. Frankly, what Great Britain pulled off was incredible! A task force built around 2 carriers plus the Royal Marines and Paras.... like a bloody rabbit out of a hat magic trick. My first thought on being told that the Falklands had been invaded by Argentina, though, was that my mate was trying to pull off an April fool's day joke a day late. Sadly it was all too real.

That sentiment about how the Argentine soldiers didn't receive the welcome they expected when they invaded the islands on April 2nd 1982, reflects what the operator of Falkland Islands Radio at the time, turned tour guide, Patrick Watts, said while participating in an Australian made documentary from 2006 about the islands and about two people from Argentina who had different experiences of the islands: Sergio Delgado, a veteran who was a teenage conscript at the time of the Falklands War, and Esteban Hubner, someone who was too young to fight in 1982, but had long been interested in the islands. Watts said, when driving to Sergio Delgado's old position on Mount Longdon with the two men from Argentina: "You know, it was okay for [General] Galtiari to be telling everybody, 'the Malvinas are ours, you boys have got to fight to the death'. But when they got here, no one was there to welcome them, no one wanted them, we didn't speak the same language. I mean they must have wondered what the hell they were doing here." Despite being on different sides of a war, the three men soon form an unlikely bond. Patrick Watts mentioned how at the time, he and other residents of the islands wanted the Argentines out of the place as quickly as possible, now, he's glad people like Sergio Delgado is alive to tell his story, it was great to meet him. However, that doesn't mean he feels any differently about Argentina as a whole: "Yes we can forgive what happened in the war, but we can't change the attitude of the present day Argentine government. That's the sad fact of this [situation], that all these men were killed and governmentally, between us, nothing's changed at all,"

Thoroughly enjoyed this, and thank you. I was on the Orkney's at the time, and my brother-in-law had to dig out his AA Road Atlas to check if I was anywhere near it. Probably worthy of an episode in it's own right was the RAF's Operation Black Buck contribution, which through a mind-boggling maze of logistics resulted in Vulcan bombers temporarily disabling the Port Stanley airfield in the early days.

It should be noted that the closest the Falklands ever came to being part of Argentina was the two and half months when they occupied it during the war, it has been a British possession longer than Argentina has existed.

I painted the fences and wooden plinths at the cemeteries there 10 yrs ago. Loved being there for a couple yrs

The Arigies forgot one of the 4 Rules of War. 1. You can never hold Afghanistan. 2. Never get into a land war in Asia. 3. Never invade Russia in the winter. 4. Never get into Naval Warfare with the British.

The Falklands War saved Thatchers Government, she was incredibly unpopular until this. Given the damage she did subsequently, in a way Argentina got a few digs in, even if it was completely unintentional.

The Empire Strikes Back, love that headline

I was a junior high school student when this happened. (USA) I understood enough to know if UK could project their forces efficiently that far they would win because generally speaking UKs forces were more modern and I expected they had more money for training. Frankly I always saw Argentina's claim as debatable at best... Base on Argentina's theory it seems UKs claim is better.

I really love how the commentary is shown. Calm, Informative, and very clear. And the title is really catchy. It's good to binge-watch even tho I cannot grasp most of the information but it's good to have information flowing every day. Thank you, Simon!

We can both argue who it does or doesn't belong to but at the end of the day we must respect the will of the living population. And time and time again they have voted in favor of Britain. So the issue is settled.

I see a parallel with today's war in Ukraine, I small but highly trained army fighting against a larger conscript army of conscripts who lack both motivation and training. During the Falklands war I was working in the USN's NAVAIR offices, where we watched very carefully the effect of the Exocets of the ships, especially the aluminum superstructures that proved tragically susceptible to the missiles. We also were keenly interested in how the Archies were using ex USN A-6's. I was especially interested in the Sea Harriers, since I was involved in the USN's development of one for our Marines. One other thing that fascinated us, but was left unmentioned, was the astounding bombing mission of the RAF Vulcans that flew over 8,000 miles to attack the airfield on West Falkland. Great presentation, as always. Thanks

Brezhnev took Afghanistan. Begin took Beirut. Galtieri took the Union Jack. And Maggie, over lunch one day, Took a cruiser with all hands. Apparently, to make him give it back

1:20 - Chapter 1 - Who owns the place ? 3:30 - Chapter 2 - A confusing dispute 6:00 - Chapter 3 - Invasion 7:40 - Chapter 4 - A new kind of war 10:50 - Chapter 5 - Carnage on the high seas 12:50 - Chapter 6 - Cherryberries & chicos 15:35 - Chapter 7 - The battle for stanley 17:30 - Chapter 8 - Aftermath - Chapter 9 - - Chapter 10 -

And The Iron Lady reminded the world that England still knows how to kick ass

They refused to take home their own dead, That is just dirty.

Thank you for giving the Falkland Islands their correct - and only - name. My grandfather was a marine engineer aboard HMS Coventry on 25 May 1982, and seeing the way he and his shipmates gathered each year on that date to remember those they left behind, and hearing his stories throughout my life, seeing how it affected him throughout his, I want to say this: nobody on the British side has ever said the islands 'belong' to 'us'. The Argentine view has always been that 'you belong to us, not them' - which is why they needed the people they actually chose to associate with to defend them against this barbaric foreign threat. It doesn't matter how close they are to that godforsaken nation. They have voted overwhelmingly to associate themselves with the United Kingdom, and have nothing whatsoever to do with Argentina. That is the end of the debate. They have the right to self-determination, and they have exercised that time, and time again. When an arrogant military power sought to overrule them, they were defended appropriately.

Nice video mate..

Great video mate

As a Brazilian, long live to the Falklands! 🇬🇧

The people who live there should determine themselves who is their head of state and what culture they belong to , Argentina wasn't even a country when the Falklands were colonized.

I was on the fort , at Portsmouth docks, waving the fleet out and back home again. Those pictures bought it all back .

Stanley is now officially a city following the platinum jubilee city status declaration by the HM the Queen Elizabeth 2 last year.

Thank you Simon and team, that was one of your best videos. My farther was serving in the Royal Navy in a big ship that felt like it had a target on it. He and the ship came back, but one of the aircraft he'd been responsible didn't, along with its crew and I believe 16 other fine gentlmen from 22Sdn SAS. It was quite terrifying watching the news reel of attack after attack on British ships and positions around San Carlos Water or Bomb Alley as it became known as. Day after day ships were being sunk, just wiped off the board. With media at the time we knew what was going on in very quick order. As a 12 year old watching his fathers ship on the news with fighter bomber aircraft buzzing by, their brave pilots flew so low when attacking that some of their bombs didn't have time to arm before imacting the ships, there were many UXB''s. Nobody who was old enough to remember could forget the images of HMS Antelope as her magazines exploded. Those are the images that stick with you. God rest all those men and women who lived and died on either side, and thank you for service and sacrifice.

You mis-characterize the exclusion zone. It is a warning for neutral shipping that anyone will be attacked. In war any enemy ship that is a threat to your forces or civilians may be attacked anywhere

Great video Thank you

One of your best videos.

I've been there and it is GORGEOUS! I'll be back one day.

18:11 “the Iron Lady” nickname came about due to Thatcher publicly stating that she saw the Soviet Union as a controlling influence to prevent any prospective reunification of Germany. Helmut Schmidt repeated the term coined by a soviet journalist in the EEC conferences two years before the Falklands War. Thatcher herself enjoyed it, adding “the lady’s not for turning” 18 months into her premiership in October 1980 and upon becoming German Chancellor Helmut Kohl repeated it in 1982, before the war in question. It had nothing to with the conflict.

Good morning Simon!

Amazing episode.

My Father served aboard HMS Antrim during the Falklands War. The helicopters aboard her were responsible for detecting and disabling the Sante Fe submarine. Later on, she would also see action in the waters around San Carlos (Bomb Alley. 12 bombs just narrowly missed her, but a 1000lb bomb did penetrate. Luckily, the bomb didn't explore nor kill anyone onboard. The war would eventually end on my Father's 20th birthday and his ship would sail back into the waters of Portsmouth Harbour. I wasn't born for another 8 years, but I have been shown the photos of my family welcoming my Father home at the docks and the birthday/welcome home party. It's always filled me with pride for my Father and those that he served alongside.

Sir, you really need to spend some time in Argentina and the Falklands. Having spent 2 weeks travelling all around Argentina and 2 days in the Falklands this last January I wouldn’t say it’s “friendly” between the people. Both sides are still angry.

I am fortunate enough to visit the falklands 2 times a year being a mod contractor. It is a beautiful place, so raw and untouched, harsh environment for what these guys went through. I can assure you the locals want and identify as british. They live a very simple and hard life with the environment they have to endure. The road to stanley from mpc is now fully tarmacd which is a huge improvement from the rubble road it was jist a few years ago. It is one of my favourite places in the world. The wildlife there is like something off an Attenborough show, and i have been fortunate to experience alot of what it has to offer over the last 14 years i have travelled there. The flight is killer though...me and the lads always pay our respect to the monuments we visit and polish them up ready for the next visitor, this also includes any Argentinian monuments we visit. Respect to both sides, especially as the Argentinians were just conscripts against our trained boys, in that type of environment it is hard to comprehend what they both went through. Simon you should do some research into Mr Mike Mckay, who is a local, who was awarded military medals for his efforts in misleading the Argentinian soliders during the war. I am fortunate to be friends with him, and the stories i have been told by him deserve a podcast alone. He is a hero of that war with his daily tussels and relaying movements back to the british, whilst being a very young man. He was doing this on horse back as the Argentinians commandeered all of the vehicles in stanley. Like i said he has some crazy stories which i look foward to hearing each time i am there!

My Dad lost a friend at Goose Green. Corparal Paul 'Sully' Sullivan of 2 Para. He has been repatriated back to the UK. May his sacrifice and all the others lost in this conflict never be forgotten. Long may the island remain as the Falklands.

Never forget... it's where Randy Andy lost the ability to sweat!! LOL

Im surprised you didnt mention operation Black Buck. The only way the RAF could participate was to send 1 lonesome Vulcan Bomber to bomb the airfield at port stanley. It required the use of 11 refueling tankers to get 1 bomber down there and back again. 11 tankers! The logisitics of this operation are mind boggling and well worth a read. It suceeded and forced the Argentines to pull all of their fast jets back to the mainland. The physical impact of this strike was limited but the psychological impact was immense.

This one was a banger! 🎉

i thinked that you had already done a video about this subject, saludos desde argentina¡¡¡

I'm disappointed you didn't mention Operation Black Buck. Of the whole Falklands War that's the most amazing bit of it.

Argentina was desperate to buy more Exocet missiles which France was eager to supply. Apparently it was Helmut Kohl - not known for his love of Britain - who had to put his foot down and tell the frogs they weren't selling weapons to the enemy of a NATO ally during an active conflict.

13:48 you forgot to mention D and G Squadrons of 22 SAS, a gaggle of SBS bods and "Scaley Backs" from 264 SAS Signals Squadron. G Squadron's Overwatch, in the wreck of "Lady Elizabeth", in Stanley Harbour provided much needed intel for the TF. And the lads of D Squadron's assault on the airfield, on Pebble Island, meant Argentine Air Support was severly limited.

I remember watching that conflict on tv!

I remember when I first heard of the islands, in Peter and Dan Snow's series 20th Century Battlefields, the way Peter Snow described the scene from Port Stanley on the introduction that made clear how the local population felt: "This may look like a sleepy little seaside town somewhere on the British Isles, in fact, the United Kingdom is 8,000 miles away. These are the Falkland Islands, a remote British territory in the South Atlantic."

I just loved the Magazine headline in the 1980s that read: _THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK_ that perfect opportunity wasn't wasted ☺️

Missing out the Vulcan attacks

🎵Orders from the Iron Maiden: “Get the islands back! Failure will not be accepted, Call for artillery strike, Launch attack!” We are Back In Control Force them to surrender Take what is ours Restore law and order Back In Control Push them further out to sea Falklands in our hands Back under British reign🎵 - “Back In Control” by Sabaton

How can you confidently label this the first modern war? that subject is something which deserves its own evaluation.

Historiograph made a very good video about the naval side of things

I think this should be on your warographics channel

You could do an entire episode on Operation Black Buck.

there were a raid on pebbel island by SAS to secure a british landing at a airbase destroying 11 aircraft in 30 minutes

Thatcher got the "(Iron) Lady of Steel" moniker for a reason.

A video of Operation Black Buck 1 to 7 would be great.

A few battle maps would be helpful, just to get an idea of the layout.

Why has there not been an Mega Projects episode on the building of Mount Pleasant Airfield? It’s an old tale of outstanding British engineering?

An excellent documentary. Just one small note, Mrs Thatcher was already known as The Iron Lady. She was given the name in an article in a Soviet publication in 1975 just after she became leader of the opposition and was already in common use well before the 1982 war.

My uncle worked as a chef on the Qe2.He was there! !It was turned it to a troup carrier!

I used to work with a couple of guys who served in the Falklands Conflict, one had taken an Argie bullet to the guts, and the other was a total mess from PTSD. Over 40 years later, the effects of the conflict are still being felt. Still Argentina has the ludicrous claims on the islands who are populated by people who want nothing to do with Argentina.

That war was the reason I turned down my exchange student opportunity. They wanted to send me to Argentina in 1986, and I thought it was still ruled by a junta that disappearing their own people using death squads.

I would love to see a video about Vanport Oregon and the floods of 1948!

A very sombre but true outro.

A warographics episode in disguise!😂

I've had the privilege to have been to the Falklands twice, in 2002 and 2007. It's bleak, beautiful and I love it.

The "First Modern War" is a relative term. WW 1 was the first modern war because of heavier-than-air aircrafts, aircraft carriers, tanks, and the extensive use of submarines. WW 2 was the first modern war because of radar, computers, the V-2 was the first long-range ballistic missile, had the first night vision devices, and the atomic bomb. Vietnam War was the first modern war because of the first extensive use of helicopters in combat and logistics. GPS was first used in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Get the drift. Every war is going to bring new ways of conducting a war. So, in some sense, every war is the "First Modern War".

Fun fact: I was born on the very same day that the Falklands War ended! If the British had won their 1806-07 invasions in Buenos Aires, then Argentina would have become a British dominion much like Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc., and Argentina would have taken over the then-Crown Colony of the Falklands in 1949, much as Canada took over the previously-separate Newfoundland. In that universe, the Falklands would have ten times as many people as in our own universe - namely, about 30,000 people (still sparsely populated even so). Most importantly, there would have been no Falklands War!

As long as the people of the Falkland Islands want to remain part of the UK, then that's what they should be. They should only be given to Argentina should a time come that they vote in favour of that instead, and looking at those numbers, I don't think that will be happening any time soon, even with the current political climate of the UK.

I worked in the Falkland Islands in 2005 (ish) The locals LOVE the British and even renamed the main road in Stanley to 'Thatcher Road' One of the first things we done upon landing was Landmine Awareness Training.

Aarrrgh, yet another channel from him! Where can I go to escape from Simon? 🤣

For someone who loves their facts it was a conflict according to Maggie Thatcher a war was never declared by either parties

In my opinion unless they forcibly evict or occupy the islands they will stay British, just because they are closer to Argentina doesn’t mean they automatically have the right to them, Corsica was Italian for most of our recent history and is closer to Italy than France but if the Italians invaded tomorrow everyone would back France (that is not the best example but you know what I mean) we need to respect the wishes of the Falkland islanders or in many ways we would be just as bad as the Russians in the Ukraine

I feel like this was intended to be a Warographics video but got turned into a Geographics one because they needed a Geo vid lol

I was a young kid when the Falklands War happened. It was talked about on the TV, but I did not really appreciate or understand it at the time. Now I find it fascinating all that went in to that conflict, as 8,000 miles is a long ways away to fight.

My CSM when I was in South Korea was in the British Army when he was young fought in the Falklands War.

Funny how I use Simon's beard to guage the age of the video.

Love him or hate him - and there’s a lot to hate - Prince Andrew flew helicopters in action here. His job was to draw missiles away from ships and to work as a radar post. For all of his later faults he is rightly being “punished”, but he should not be stopped from wearing his medals. Like Harry, they earns theirs.

Homeskillet must be making videos all day long he's everywhere on RU-vid

Excellent video, but what about operation Black Buck. The only time the Vulcan bomber was used in anger.

Argentina had more KIA and a fairly heavy engagement at South Georgia, more intense than even Port Stanley fighting the Royal Marines there under LT Kieth Mills DSC.