Stati Uniti e Gran Bretagna durante la guerra delle Falkland

In 1982 Argentina – a country allied with the United States through the Rio Pact – invaded the Falkland Islands, a long-time Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, disputed by Buenos Aires since the XIXth century. Margaret Thatcher, the then British Prime Minister, vigorously responded and finally Britain – a US NATO ally – retook the Islands. The conflict has to be contextualized in the ‘second Cold War’ framework. The struggle between the US and USSR was particularly tough in the first years of the 1980s and the bipolar logic strongly influenced the diplomatic course of the 1982 war. On the one hand, the Western hemisphere was at the core of the renewed anti-communist US strategy and Argentina was the main pillar in the Southern Cone. On the other hand, the strengthening of the Anglo-American ‘special relationship’ was the European cornerstone of the US grand strategy. Against this background, the role that the US chose to play determined the outcome of the Falklands war.