The full name of the Falkland Islands is the Malvinas Islands, and Britain calls it the Falkland Islands. Before the Panama Canal was opened, Mashima was called the key to the Pacific Ocean, because it was the key to Magellan's throat strait and the only channel connecting the South Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, so whoever controlled Mashima controlled the route between the two oceans.
Later, after the opening of the Panama Canal, it became a new shortcut, and the strategic value of the island declined. However, due to the topographical conditions and the advantages of defending the two oceans, it is still the strategic fulcrum of the South Atlantic militarily. In the past two world wars, Britain used the terrain of the island to facilitate secret raids and defeated the German fleet that entered the waters of the island at that time.
It is precisely because of the special geographical location and strategic value of the island that Britain and Argentina will meet for sovereignty. After all, why is there a dispute between Britain and Argentina? How did Argentina lose the Falklands War? And what role did the United States, a world power, play in the Falklands naval battle?
The sovereignty of newly discovered areas generally belongs to the first discovered country. Generally speaking, whoever discovers it first, colonizes it first and occupies it first. Argentina and Britain are also controversial about who first discovered Falklands.
According to historical records, it was actually the Dutch who first discovered this island, and the time point was 1600. However, Britain insisted that it was the first country to discover Falklands, because as early as 1592, British navigators had seen Falklands in the distance, but there was no land to draw at that time, so it could not be used as textual research.
On the other hand, Argentina believes that the Falkland Islands were discovered by Magellan expedition funded by Spain. A crew member of the expedition discovered Falklands in 1520, which was several decades earlier than that of Britain, so Britain cannot claim Tsushima Island's sovereignty on the grounds of the earliest discovery.
Since neither country has the idea of "who discovered first", let's start with who colonized first. The Spanish Empire, which was going downhill at that time, broke out the war of succession to the throne because of the demise of the dynasty. In order to plunder their colonies, Britain, France, Austria and other countries launched a fierce battle for the throne, and finally the French Bourbon royal family won.
Since the Bourbon royal family won the Spanish throne, France has often interfered in South American affairs. 1764, Bougainville, the first French sailor, was inspired by Louis XIV to set up a stronghold in the name of France on the East Island of Falklands. Britain followed closely, and in 1765, in the name of George III, it also established a stronghold in the west island of Mashima.
As we all know, Spain is a colonial empire in South America, and France's occupation of the east island of Mashima in South America made them unbearable, so they put pressure on their protests. Finally, France decided to transfer the East Island to Spain on the condition that Spain would pay a price of 24,000 pounds (compensation).
After Spain and France handed over the East Island affairs, Spain began to look to the "next door neighbor". They drove away the British on the west island by force, and then occupied the whole island. However, at that time, Spain was not colonized by Tsushima Island, but was handed over to the "United States of Spain and Argentina" for management, which was also the foreshadowing of Argentina's struggle for sovereignty over the Falklands after independence.
After Spain forcibly expelled the British, Britain clashed with the West. In order to prevent the contradiction from escalating, the two countries also held consultations and signed a secret agreement. The agreement agreed to return the West Island to Britain, but the sovereignty priority of the Falklands must be in the hands of Spain.
After the two countries reached an agreement, Britain recovered the West Island in 177 1. It was only at that time that Britain thought that the island lacked economic value and was not worth reclamation, so it decided to quit three years later. Before leaving, in order to leave evidence of sovereignty, a plaque "West Island belongs to George III" was set up.
Spain's occupation of the East Island lasted only 18 1 1 year, so after all the British and western strongholds were withdrawn, the island returned to the state of uninhabited island. At this stage, the war of independence just broke out in South America. Argentina raised the banner of independence and launched the "May Revolution", which not only broke away from Spanish colonial rule, but also embarked on the road of independent statehood.
After independence, Argentina believed that it had the right to inherit the Spanish colonial heritage, so it declared that the sovereignty of Falklands belonged to Argentina. Britain was very angry when it learned the news. They believe that the Falklands was snatched from Britain by Spain and never gave up sovereignty, so they had a dispute with Argentina.
However, just as the two countries were arguing over this, something happened in the waters of the island. Argentina confiscated three American fishing boats on the grounds of "illegal fishing", which completely angered the US. Therefore, in retaliation, the United States destroyed all the strongholds of Argentina on Falklands and declared Falklands an island without sovereignty.
The revenge of the United States just gave Britain the opportunity to take away the sovereignty of the island. 1833, Britain sent frigates to occupy the Falklands, which not only drove away all Argentine officials, but also planted a British flag on the island, thus reaffirming the sovereignty of Britain and Tsushima Island. That is to say, since this year, Britain has actually occupied the island, and finally officially designated it as its own colony in 1892.
During the British takeover of the island, in order to show sovereignty, the governor's office, administrative agencies and resettlement sites were set up on the island. Not only continue to transport British immigrants to the island, but also forcibly drive away the Argentine residents who stayed on the island, which is why more than 90% of the permanent residents on the island are of British descent.
Although the island was occupied by Britain for a long time after it became a British colony, Argentina never gave up Tsushima Island's sovereignty claim. Argentina issued a map stamp on 1935 to show its determination, while Britain, not to be outdone, issued a map stamp on Falklands on 1946. The two countries compete with each other for the sovereignty of the Falklands.
Later, there was a wave of decolonization at the end of World War II, and Argentina began to use this force to promote the process of recovering the Falklands. It not only sent its navy to the sea area of Falklands, but also submitted the ownership of Falklands to the United Nations in 1958.
The United Nations believes that the dispute over the sovereignty of the Falklands should be settled by Britain and Albania through peaceful negotiations, so they often conduct diplomatic negotiations during this period. Originally, in this process, Britain changed its tough attitude, eased its relationship with Argentina and was willing to let it communicate with the island. However, at this time, rich oil resources were discovered in the sea area of Falklands, so Britain immediately tightened the ties between Falklands and Argentina.
However, the British approach is very contradictory. While emphasizing that the sovereignty of Falklands belongs to Britain, it began to weaken its military strength on the island, not only reducing the naval vessels and equipment stationed on the island, but also withdrawing the defensive cruisers. Although for Britain, they just don't believe that Argentina dares to compete on its own; But in Argentina's view, this is an act of giving up sovereignty.
Therefore, in view of the Falklands issue, the Argentine military government decided to adopt a two-track policy towards Britain. If Britain agrees to negotiate Tsushima Island's sovereignty again, it will be settled peacefully. If Britain doesn't agree, then Argentina will take it back by force. As a result, Britain has been implementing delaying tactics and avoiding sovereignty negotiations with the "self-determination of islanders" program.
Galtieri was very unpopular, but the South Georgia flag incident made him reject many favorable feelings. So, when everyone called him an Argentine hero, he began to get carried away. Instead of gradually recovering the Falklands, he chose to launch the Falklands War against Britain in advance. At the beginning of 1982, the negotiations between Britain and Argentina broke down again, and Argentina decided to recover the island by force and recover its sovereignty.
After learning the news, the British Prime Minister ordered a counterattack, allowing the sea, land and air to jointly fight, and the Tsushima Island waters were completely blocked, cutting off the connection between Argentina and the Argentine defenders on the island. Therefore, the Argentine defenders ran out of ammunition and food and were forced to surrender when they lost support and logistical supplies. The 74-day Falklands naval battle ended in a fiasco in Argentina.
Before the South Georgia incident, the United States did not want to get involved in the Falklands dispute between Britain and Afghanistan, because Falklands had no economic and political significance to him, and he did not need to get involved. In addition, in order to ensure its strategic significance in South America, the United States does not want to have a conflict with South American power Argentina. Therefore, whenever Britain wants to show its position on the Tsushima Island issue, the United States keeps a wait-and-see attitude.
However, after the South Georgia incident, the United States was worried that the situation would be seriously fermented, giving the Soviet Union an opportunity to intervene in South American affairs, so it intervened to promote peace talks between Britain and Argentina. Considering that if Britain becomes the defeated party, the Soviet Union will definitely come in and spoil the situation, the United States also said in the mediation process that if the contradiction between Britain and Afghanistan escalates into a military conflict, the United States will not hesitate to support Britain.
As a result, Argentina did not cooperate with the mediation policy at all. They thought that the United States would not sacrifice the regional interests of South America for Britain. Moreover, Argentina often provides military support for the counter-insurgency actions of the United States in Central America, so they firmly believe that friendly relations with the United States are better than those with Britain, and France, Spain and other countries can provide arms for themselves, so Argentina launched the Falklands naval battle "aggressively".
It's just that they never imagined that after the war broke out, the United States really changed its neutral attitude and supported Britain, not only providing it with technical support such as satellite reconnaissance, but also giving it huge military material assistance. NATO and the European Union (then the European Union) also began to impose embargoes and sanctions on Argentina, and France and other European countries stopped arms sales to Argentina. Therefore, Argentina's fiasco, in addition to "underestimating" Britain, also has a misjudgment of the attitude of the United States and other big countries.
After the Falklands War, Britain and Argentina broke off diplomatic relations briefly for several years, and it was not until the new Argentine President Menem proposed "shelving Falklands sovereignty and restoring relations between the two countries" that Britain and Argentina began to resume diplomatic relations. 1999 relations between the two countries were officially broken off and a cooperation agreement was signed.
However, the good times between Britain and Afghanistan did not last long, and the island immediately ushered in a new round of sovereignty conflict. 20 10 Britain's exploration and exploitation of oil in the Falklands waters caused dissatisfaction with the Argentine government. Argentina believes that Britain is illegally exploiting, so it decided to protest against Britain's behavior by blocking the air route to Falklands.
They first stressed that all ships passing through the Falklands need to apply to them in advance, and then said that if they encounter the ships of BP, they will all be detained to punish Britain's "violation" of the sovereignty of the Falklands in Argentina. Britain was quickly bombed by Argentines, and in order to "defend" Tsushima Island's sovereignty, it sent warships to the Falklands.
Therefore, the relationship between Britain and Argentina is once again controversial because of the "new dispute over the sovereignty of Falklands", and Falklands has once again become the focus of contention between Britain and Argentina because of its huge oil reserves and other economic resources.
Most islanders in the Falkland Islands are of British descent. Influenced by their own national culture, history and language, they instinctively approached Britain and rejected Argentina. Therefore, in the referendum on Falklands promoted by the British government in 20 13, 98.8% of the residents supported that Falklands belonged to Britain and remained as an overseas territory of Britain.
References:
① A brief analysis of the dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands —— Li Zesheng's perspective of international law.
(2) The Battle of Amama Island between the United States and Britain (1982.3- 1982.6) "What about Wang Na?
③ Enlightenment of Falklands War: Why did Argentina lose? "Wen Yi Lei Zhu Zhang Genliang.