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PHOTOGRAPH BY MARTIN CLEAVER, AP
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The scenario sounds eerily contemporary: A country invades its neighbor and thinks it will be a cakewalk. But the move wrecks the invader's economy and leads to the end of its authoritarian rule. We're talking about Argentina's invasion of the remote Falklands Islands, 40 years ago last weekend.
Argentina’s military government had counted on a declining England just surrendering its claim to the sparsely populated South American islands, also known as the Malvinas. It underestimated the resolve of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who dispatched warships, jets, and troops to defend them.
The Argentine forces on the islands, poorly led, fed, armed, and clothed, were no match for the British military, but the competing claims to the islands remain. (Pictured above, captured Argentine soldiers are guarded by a British Royal Marine in 1982.)
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