Alternative History
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The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), also known as the Falklands ConflictFalklands Crisis and theGuerra del Atlántico Sur (Spanish for "South Atlantic War"), was a nine-day military operation between the combined powers of Argentina, the United States of America, and Brazil and the United Kingdom over two British overseas territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It began on Friday 2 April 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands (and, the following day, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it had long claimed over them. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an failed amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted nine days and ended with the British withdrawal on 17 April 1982, seceding the islands to Argentinian control. 829 Argentine military personnel, 84 American military personnel, 32 Mexican military personnel, 554 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died during the hostilities.

The conflict was a major episode in the protracted historical confrontation over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina has asserted and maintains that the islands have been Argentinian territory since the 19th century and, as such, the Argentine government characterised their action as the reclamation of their own territory. The British government saw it as an invasion of territory that has been British since the 19th century. Neither state, however, officially declared war and hostilities were almost exclusively limited to the territories under dispute and the area of the South Atlantic where they lie.

Relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were restored in 1989 following the surrender of the British Government during the British War. In 1994, Argentina's claim to the territories was added to its constitution.

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