Dec 8 - Battle of the Falkland Islands

[Felix/FFDS]

In 1914...

1914 The Battle of the Falkland Islands

A month after German naval forces led by Admiral Maximilian von Spee inflicted the Royal Navy

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

Just proves the point.

Don't mess with The British Empire.


A.

[Craig.]

Too bad the Argentines didn't take note of that.

[Felix/FFDS]

I don't know, the Turks gave a good account of themselves at Gallipoli  ....  

[Hagar]

Too bad the Argentines didn't take note of that.

Two reasons they might have thought this irrelevant. In 1914 Great Britain had arguably the most powerful navy in the world. It also had the biggest Empire in history which was the reason for the navy used to protect its interests. It was very different in 1982, a fact that our Andrew still seems blissfully unaware of.

PS. http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/3541.html

[Craig.]

I'm quite sure under estimating the harrier didn't help either.

[Hagar]

I think misreading the political situation & the person they were dealing with was their biggest mistake. All the signs were that Britain had lost interest in the Falkland Islands & not many people in Britain had ever heard of this remote place or any idea where in the world it was. Even I thought the operation was a bluff & didn't believe it could possibly succeed even while it was happening.

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

Hehehe, Oh I'm aware Doug, I just wish I wasn't !



A.

[dcunning30]

I think misreading the political situation & the person they were dealing with was their biggest mistake. All the signs were that Britain had lost interest in the Falkland Islands & not many people in Britain had ever heard of this remote place or any idea where in the world it was. Even I thought the operation was a bluff & didn't believe it could possibly succeed even while it was happening.

Agreed!

A lesson learned, they should have taken a clue from how the US gave up control over the Panama Canal.  Get a constituent group to complain that their country have no right to control  land they don't deserve to control.  The only way you can defeat a strong entity is to convince it that it's best interest is not served by continuing it's course of action.  That's what happened in the US.  All of a sudden, we heard this watershed opinion that we had no right to control the Panama Canal zone.  At the time, I wondered "where did all this come from?"  I still wonder.

[Craig.]

[quote]


Agreed!

A lesson learned, they should have taken a clue from how the US gave up control over the Panama Canal.

[Hagar]

The people of the Falklands have been given chances in the past from what I know, on whether to break away from UK rule. They chose not to. No-one in Britain has any real right to argue the case, only the resident of the islands should and can choose. Its ours, has been for god knows how long so why change it? The same recent issue came up with Gibralta, The Spanish cant seem to get over the fact that they dont control the rock, so they took their complaint to the residents getting them to vote on whether to break away from British rule and join the Spanish. Not surprisingly they also chose to stay British. Many a red face in the Spanish cabinet after that

This is true Craig but I'm not certain how long it will continue. It's quite possible that the British government will come to some sort of deal over Gibraltar & also the Falklands despite the residents wishes. Look at what happened in Hong Kong for example.

I've never visited & not likely to but from what I'm told life in the Falkland Islands is very different now to what it was before 1982. Things will never be the same & even some of the residents that remained there might feel differently now.

[dcunning30]

If I understand it correctly, Britain leased Hong Kong for something like 99 years, so it's eventual turnover back to China was always in the cards.

But I submit the Canal Zone matter was different.  The US having built the canal amounted to an economic boom to Panama that it wouldn't have had in the first place.  The US footed the bill and took on the risk to put it there, call it a venture capital endeavor.

Now I have no beef with having given it over to the Panamanians, in fact it seems the proper action, but I just rememeber, it was like on day the sun came up and all you heard was "we need to turn over the canal to Panama".  It was like, where did that come from?

[Hagar]

[quote]Now I have no beef with having given it over to the Panamanians, in fact it seems the proper action, but I just rememeber, it was like on day the sun came up and all you heard was "we need to turn over the canal to Panama".

[Craig.]

The only people to complain about the Falkands are the guys who had to sit on boats for god knows how long just to get there, in sea's rough enough to make even  hardend sailor sick. Believe me, I still hear the complaints from my dad to this day

[Hagar]

[quote]The only people to complain about the Falkands are the guys who had to sit on boats for god knows how long just to get there, in sea's rough enough to make even