Remembering the Falklands war in Britain: From Division to Conviction?

Abstract

This article examines how the Falklands war has been remembered in Britain. By looking at how ideas of the Falklands war reached public audiences, the article traces changing British understandings of the composition of the conflict. In the 1980s, the war was regarded as politically divisive. Since the 1990s, political divisions faded, and the perspectives of veterans, particularly as represented in the memoirs of lower ranked soldiers, became prominent. This has resulted in focus on new themes, such as experiences of combat trauma and relationships with the Falkland Islands and islanders. These changes illustrate shifts in civil–military relations in Britain and encouraged new interpretations of what the Falklands war meant for Britain. In the contexts of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly that of Iraq, Britain’s engagement in the Falklands came to be seen not only as politically legitimate, but also as the right choice to have made.