ABSTRACT
British diplomacy may have been progressively influenced by confidence in the eventual military outcome, but even after weathering the San Carlos storm, the Task Force commanders remained unsure about the battles to come. Exactly how much resistance could be expected from the Argentine Army was unclear. If they managed to impose significant delays then there was a risk that the wear and tear on the naval Task Force could still leave Britain with an inconclusive and untenable impasse, holding some of the Islands but unable to take them all. Key to all of this was the progress of the land battle, to which we are about to turn. Having described the diplomatic context in which this took place, it might be useful also to fill in the wider military context.
