A leader at war: Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands crisis of 1982

The victory in the Falklands War was the triumph of Margaret Thatcher. While the Argentine invasion of the islands was the fruit of a lack of leadership in managing the Falklands issue, the positive resolution of the crisis owed much to Thatcher’s ability to react rapidly to the initial shock, to achieve and maintain firm control of the political handling of the crisis, to clearly identify objectives, and to pursue them with a persistence that never lost contact with diplomatic prudence. The episode, which could have caused her political death, ended up giving her unassailable force, for many years. The first part of this essay analyses the major problems which the outburst of the crisis created to Mrs Thatcher and defines her strategy for resolving it. The second part goes deeper into the management of the crisis by Mrs Thatcher, by highlighting her swiftness of response and clarity of intentions, her elaboration of a positive values system, her capacities of managing international relations, and, last but not least, her luck. The last paragraph analyses the consequences of the war both on the representation of Margaret Thatcher leadership and on the British political landscape as a whole.