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By
Duncan Anderson
Osprey Publishing
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It
is now twenty years since the Falklands War broke out in the Spring of 1982.
As a result it is still relatively fresh in the memories of most British
people. It was also the first
conflict in which Britain had a direct involvement that could be watched unfold
on the television screen as it happened. This
applied not only to the military conflict in the Falklands but also to the
political events in Whitehall. The
era of mass communication ensured that the Government felt obliged to present
daily briefings on the events of the previous 24 hours.
In many cases facts and details became immediate public knowledge which
in previous conflicts would have taken decades to surface.
In the following twenty years innumerable books, theses and articles have been written on the Falklands War from virtually every possible point of view. These works have ranged from the excellent to the mediocre (usually those with an axe to grind) and it could fairly be said that there is probably little, if anything, new to say on the War. Why then should this new publication from Osprey be greeted with anything other than a yawn.
Well,
firstly, it doesn’t set out to tell a warts and all history of the War by
examining everything that happened in minute detail.
This after all has already been done many times.
Instead (in common with all the sister works in the Essential Histories
series) it provides a balanced overview of the War and thus provides an
eminently sensible summary of the events that occurred in the Spring and Summer
of 1982. It would be impossible in
less than 100 pages to deal with everything.
Instead Anderson has concentrated on setting out, briefly but succinctly,
what happened, why it happened and what was the end result both militarily and
politically.
Throughout
the book excellent use is made of maps to illustrate the positions, and
manoeuvres, of the opposing forces. Many
of the illustrations have been little used in previous works (though the
relatively poor quality of a few probably explains why) and are carefully used
to illustrate the points being made in the text around them.
It should also be mentioned that the captions to both maps and
illustrations are very detailed in themselves unlike many in earlier works on
the same conflict.
As
a basic introduction to the conflict close to perfect providing a balanced
summary of the events. The main
complaint is the “select” bibliography which is sparse indeed, particularly
in view of the many publications on the War.
A number of excellent, and highly important works, are missing from the
list. Perhaps Osprey could be
persuaded to consider increasing the list should further editions be issued.
Other than that minor quibble essential reading for anyone interested in
late 20th Century military activities.
Paul Reynolds
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