THE FALKLANDS CONFLICT: The last British Imperial War?
Publication Name
Routledge Handbook of the Global History of Warfare
Abstract
In the final assessment, the Falklands conflict is probably best described as a non-imperial war within a legacy imperial context, which was animated to some extent by selected post-imperial, but imperial-ish, sensibilities. It is inescapable that the campaign was an immediate and politically rational response, in the form of a limited war, to an act of aggression against a sovereign territorial component of the UK-a war to defend British overseas territorial (rather than imperial) integrity. This is perhaps indicated by the fact that analyses of Britain’s role in the Falklands War have commonly focused around the question of whether it was a ‘just war’ rather than an imperial war-perhaps even to a much more significant degree than the idea of ‘just war’ has animated analyses of other British operations until the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is also fair to say that resonances of imperial attitude-ethereal sentiment spirit, but also the capacity to engage in independent, self-contained, expeditionary warfare-clearly coloured and influenced the framing and perception of the conflict. Thus, it is perhaps only in these more interstitial senses-of contextual legacy, and of imperial sentiment and expeditionary capability-that it is right to speak of the Falklands War as Britain’s last imperial war.
Open Access Status
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First Page
451
Last Page
463