In 1982 Argentina invade the Falkland Islands. On the 19th of March A group of 50 Argentineans landed on Saint Georgia, an Island dependency of the Falkland Islands, and hoisted the Argentine Flag. The group were thought to be commercial but on this day in 1982 it became apparent that this was not the case when Argentinean forces started a full blown invasion of the main island. The Falkland Islands were claimed by Britain before Argentina existed as a country but they have disputed their claim to the islands on several occasions meeting with British opposition (the first instance was on the 1st of January 1883 where Argentinean forces were removed and Britain’s sovereignty restored). Argentina had been under military rule since the 24th of March 1976, with General Leopoldo Galtieri leading the country. Civil unrest grew in Argentina due to the oppressive rule and bad economic management. General Galtieri believed taking the long sought after Falkland Islands would make the people forgive him and see him as a hero. So he began building up his fleet of ships in the area ready for the invasion. When the UK government heard they immobilised a fleet. Due to the distance of the Islands from the UK (8,000 miles) it took several weeks for the naval fleet to reach the Falkland area. The main phase of the war was Naval which lasted until the 21st of May when the British could begin landing troops on the Island. Fighting continued on land and sea until the surrender of Argentinean forces on the 14th of June 1982 (the war lasted a total of 74 days). General Galtieri was arrested and imprisoned for military incompetence for three years. The Argentinean Government returned to civilian control shortly after but Argentina still lay claim to the islands they call Las Malvinas. In 2002 General Galtieri was arrested for the abduction, torture and murder of various political opponents of the oppressive regime but he died before the case came to trial.
In 1872 Samuel Finley Breese Morse, the inventor of the single wire telegraph system, based on European models, and co-developer of Morse code, died at the age of 80 in New York, USA.
