The Falkland Islands

I'm wondering, in Winner's scenario, how the Argentine military would be able to confiscate/commandeer/buy and concentrate hundreds of fishing boats without anyone taking notice.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_Falkland_Islands

The standing garisson is around 500 men, plus a light infantry company of local volunteers.

The airfield is large enough to land a hercules aircraft - so they had better capture it fast or neutralise it in some way if they don't want a rapid reaction force joining in the fight.


If they were going to do it, they would probably create a "peaceful re-occupation" fisherman's fleet, with armed soldiers on-board the ships. They would then probably either chuck their weapons overboard or launch an armed assault, depending on how it went.

1200 in total UK personnel I believe.
 
I'm wondering, in Winner's scenario, how the Argentine military would be able to confiscate/commandeer/buy and concentrate hundreds of fishing boats without anyone taking notice.

They'll invent a new public holiday - National Trout-catching Day.
 
I'm wondering, in Winner's scenario, how the Argentine military would be able to confiscate/commandeer/buy and concentrate hundreds of fishing boats without anyone taking notice.

Conscript all fishermen and port workers the morning the invasion is launched. They are just cannon fodder after all.
 
When their mobiles ring, the inhabitants of Port Stanley are learning to check caller ID carefully before answering. If it displays a "long number," meaning it might be from Argentina, they don't pick up. "It's intimidating to be woken in the night to someone shouting at you in Spanish," says Lisa Watson, editor of The Penguin News, the main and only newspaper of the Falkland Islands, the British Overseas Territory claimed by Argentina as Las Malvinas.

The angry calls are coming with the advent of the 30th anniversary of the 1982 war with Great Britain that started with the occupation of the islands by Argentine military forces on April 2 that year. That 74-day military engagement left more than 900 dead and some 1,800 wounded. Argentina lost the war but it has not forgotten it's historic claim to the islands that lie a tantalizingly close 300 miles off its coast. The islands have been under British control since 1833 when a British naval squadron arrived to oust the Argentine authorities there. Argentina claims that it inherited the islands from Spain after it gained independence in 1816 but Britain says it had prior jurisdiction through an 18th century settlement.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2106143,00.html
 
I'm wondering, in Winner's scenario, how the Argentine military would be able to confiscate/commandeer/buy and concentrate hundreds of fishing boats without anyone taking notice.

They would probably launch a "dual option" strike. A "peaceful" fishermen's protest fleet will assemble legitimately and announce its intentions beforehand.

They will then proceed to the Falklands and make a peaceful demonstration.


UNLESS they discover that the British are under-prepared. Then the soldiers disguised as fishermen on the ships will take out their hidden weapons and uniforms and launch a military strike.
 
Isn't it a little silly to use very outdated past results as benchmarks on how to draw borders?

It's a bit like drawing borders in the Balkans using data from the turn of the century.
C'mon, the Balkans haven't changed that much in the past 12 years. There's only one or two extra countries, that's all.
You know what would make this moot? How about just make Argentina a territory of the United Kindgom?
Which, as I've already pointed out a couple pages before, was the original plan but the British Empire was defeated every time except for their 1833 attack on the Falklands as well as their interference in 1828 when they made Uruguay a separate country after Argentina had beaten the Brazilians. This is only a remnant, a leftover from all the British attempts at conquering Argentina.
I'm wondering, in Winner's scenario, how the Argentine military would be able to confiscate/commandeer/buy and concentrate hundreds of fishing boats without anyone taking notice.
They'll invent a new public holiday - National Trout-catching Day.
Trout are riverfish, silly Virote. :shake: :p

And I do believe there's something of a Trout Day/Festival/whatever around, but the only interest I tend to have in fish is with chips.
When their mobiles ring, the inhabitants of Port Stanley are learning to check caller ID carefully before answering. If it displays a "long number," meaning it might be from Argentina, they don't pick up. "It's intimidating to be woken in the night to someone shouting at you in Spanish," says Lisa Watson, editor of The Penguin News, the main and only newspaper of the Falkland Islands, the British Overseas Territory claimed by Argentina as Las Malvinas.

The angry calls are coming with the advent of the 30th anniversary of the 1982 war with Great Britain that started with the occupation of the islands by Argentine military forces on April 2 that year. That 74-day military engagement left more than 900 dead and some 1,800 wounded. Argentina lost the war but it has not forgotten it's historic claim to the islands that lie a tantalizingly close 300 miles off its coast. The islands have been under British control since 1833 when a British naval squadron arrived to oust the Argentine authorities there. Argentina claims that it inherited the islands from Spain after it gained independence in 1816 but Britain says it had prior jurisdiction through an 18th century settlement.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2106143,00.html
'Long number'? They should know by now that an Argentine number would start with 00-54… and recognise them more easily. Again, this is mostly the work of extremists.
 
I meant from 1901.
 
Trout are riverfish, silly Virote. :shake: :p

We have more adventuress trout in the UK.

From Wiki

the sea trout shows anadromous reproduction, migrating to the oceans for much of its life and returning to freshwater only to spawn.[2] Sea trout in the UK and Ireland have many regional names including sewin (Wales), finnock (Scotland), peal (West Country), mort (North West England) and white trout (Ireland).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_trout
 
except for their 1833 attack on the Falklands

1833 was the re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands though I believe. The history surrounding 1833 follows.

In 1765, Captain John Byron landed on Saunders Island. He then explored other islands' coasts and claimed the group for Britain. The following year, Captain John McBride returned to Port Egmont, on Saunders, to construct a fort. The British later discovered the French colony at Port Saint Louis, and the first sovereignty dispute began.

The Spanish expelled the British colony in 1770, but it was restored in 1771 following British threats of war over the islands. However, in 1774, economic pressures leading up to the American Revolutionary War forced Great Britain to withdraw from many overseas settlements. By 1776, the British had left their settlement, leaving behind a plaque asserting British sovereignty over the islands. Although there was no British administration in the islands, British and American sealers routinely used them to hunt for seals, also taking on fresh water as well as feral cattle, pigs and even penguins for provisions. Whalers also used the islands to shelter from the South Atlantic weather and to take on fresh provisions.

Luis Vernet approached the British for permission to build a settlement at the former Spanish settlement of Puerto Soledad, initially in 1826 and again in 1828 following the failure of the earlier expedition. Indeed, he is often regarded as being unpatriotic by many informed parties in Argentina for doing this.

In addition, Vernet requested British protection for his settlement should the British choose to form a permanent presence on the islands. After receiving assurances from the British minister chargé d'affaires, Sir Woodbine Parish, Vernet provided regular reports to the British on the progress of his enterprise.

Vernet's appointment as Governor in 1829 was protested against by the British Consul Parish, in return the Government of the United Provinces of the River Plate merely acknowledged the protest. Britain protested again when Vernet announced his intentions to exercise exclusive rights over fishing and sealing in the islands. (Similar protests were received from the American representative, who protested at the curtailment of established rights and that the United States did not recognise the jurisdiction of the United Provinces over the islands.)

Vernet continued to provide regular reports to Parish throughout this period.

The raid of the USS Lexington in December 1831 combined with the United Provinces assertions of sovereignty were the spur for the British to establish a military presence on the islands.

On 2 January 1833, Captain James Onslow, of the warship HMS Clio, arrived at the Spanish settlement at Port Louis to request that the Argentine flag be replaced with the British one, and for the Argentine administration to leave the islands.

While Argentine Lt. Col. José María Pinedo, commander of the Argentine schooner Sarandí, wanted to resist, his numerical disadvantage was obvious, particularly as a large number of his crew were British mercenaries who were unwilling to fight their own countrymen. Such a situation was not unusual in the newly independent states in Latin America, where land forces were strong, but navies were frequently quite undermanned. As such he protested verbally, but departed without a fight on 5 January. The colony was set up and the islands continued under a British presence until the Falklands War.

After their return in 1833, the British began moves to begin a fully-fledged colony on the islands, initially based upon the settlers remaining in Port Louis (Argentine often claim these settlers were removed yet there is zero evidence for this). Vernet's deputy, Matthew Brisbane, returned later that year to take charge of the settlement and was encouraged to further Vernet's business interests provided he did not seek to assert Argentine Government authority.

In 1841, General Rosas offered to relinquish any Argentine territorial claims in return for relief of debts owed to interests in the City of London. The British Government chose to ignore the offer. Silly us for ignoring that eh? :lol:
 
Seems to me the United States have more claim over the Falklands than the Argentinians. I say the U.S. should take it. It's unlikely the British will be able to defeat us in a war.
 
Given the United States' recent track record, odds are that you'd just get yourself bogged down in an unwinnable ten-year war against insurgent penguins.
 
and seals
 
Given the United States' recent track record, odds are that you'd just get yourself bogged down in an unwinnable ten-year war against insurgent penguins.

The last time we invaded one of your little commonwealth members you cried and stomped your feet a little. I doubt this would be any different. A lot has changed since 1812.
 
And if I were somebody with so much as a drop of patriotic blood in my body, that might have been a decent retort. :p
 
The last time we invaded one of your little commonwealth members you cried and stomped your feet a little. I doubt this would be any different. A lot has changed since 1812.

The last time you invaded one of our "little Commonwealth members", didn't they end up sacking and burning your capital to the ground?
 
if Argentina attacked could the UK if they really desired activate the NATO mutual defense pact or does it have to be an invasion of the country proper and not just a territory? Obviously the UK wouldnt need to in order to stomp Argentina's little army into the ground just moreso a curiosity question.
 
if Argentina attacked could the UK if they really desired activate the NATO mutual defense pact or does it have to be an invasion of the country proper and not just a territory? Obviously the UK wouldnt need to in order to stomp Argentina's little army into the ground just moreso a curiosity question.

Yep, that's what article 5 covers. It was activated for the first time in response to September 11 so it can be used for any situation where the country comes under attack in any way.

Edit: I just read the NATO articles and I was wrong :p Falklands not covered

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Assist
 
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