ABSTRACT

If the more conciliatory British position had been adopted a few days earlier it might have worked, but it was now too late. More seriously it was now being adopted in response to a sense of developing weakness. Every analysis ever undertaken of the Falklands problem in the MoD had drawn attention to the poverty of the available military options, yet the initial response in this case had been to act as if a robust attitude was unproblematic. By the 24 March the confused signals from London to Buenos Aires had produced a reaction that was unlikely to be contained by diplomatic means.