The Falkland Islands/Malvinas : the contest for empire in the South Atlantic /

For a few weeks during the spring of 1982 world attention was focused on a fierce struggle between Argentina and Britain over the Falkland Islands, a windswept archipelago guarding the entrance to the Straits of Magellan. Following Argentina's surrender, the Falklands faded from international headlines, but remained as a serious issue between the two antagonists. Discovered in 1592, the cold and forbidding islands were neglected for almost 200 years, then became involved in conflicts over fishing and whaling rights. In 1832, Britain colonized the islands to protect her strategic and commercial interests as part of a far-reaching strategy for empire. Within the same general time period the Royal Navy took possession of New Zealand, Singapore, Aden, Hong Kong, and a number of other key strategic locations throughout the world. Gough contends that the colonization of the Falklands helped set the stage for the high tide of the British Empire in the late Victorian age. It was a remnant of that empire that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher so strongly defended in the tragic conflict of 1982. Well documented, written in a clear and readable style, Gough's study will be of special value to advanced students interested in the broad sweep of international relations. General; graduate; faculty. E. H. Moseley; University of Alabama