ABSTRACT
The Malvinas War of 1982 meant the loss of more than 600 Argentinian lives. The battle was tough and intense. Although the conflict was short, the Argentinian death rate was more than treble the rate of American deaths during the Second World War, and almost ten times greater than in Vietnam, showing both the concentration of British fire-power and the ferocious character of the combat. There is an 'official' past that enables a society to recognize itself as both heir and participant in a specific historical process; a past that feeds off collective memory, 'the area of social appropriation of the past, of collective retrospection, of management and control of the past'. Defeat also requires scapegoats: it is easier to put the blame on a minority group than to own up to a collective responsibility. Thus the forging of the Malvinas myth helped soothe the hurt that defeat inflicted upon national pride.
