0:00:02 > 0:00:04'30 years ago, Britain went to war,
0:00:04 > 0:00:06'probably for the last time
0:00:06 > 0:00:09'all on its own, without allies.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13'That extraordinary conflict, which I reported as a journalist,
0:00:13 > 0:00:17'boosted Britain's confidence at home and standing abroad.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21'It achieved a famous victory many doubted could be won.'
0:00:21 > 0:00:23The prestige of the armed forces soared,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26emboldening Margaret Thatcher's successors
0:00:26 > 0:00:31to use them abroad, amazingly enthusiastically.
0:00:31 > 0:00:36'The Falklands transformed the fortunes of one prime minister
0:00:36 > 0:00:40'and played a part in persuading another that the British people
0:00:40 > 0:00:42'approve of wars.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45'And while in 1982 Argentine invaders surrendered,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'their government today still clamours noisily
0:00:48 > 0:00:50'for possession of the islands.'
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Viva Malvinas! APPLAUSE
0:00:53 > 0:00:5730 years on, the Falklands legacy seems full of ironies.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59The war created a strategic commitment,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03which British governments had never seriously recognised
0:01:03 > 0:01:05before it was fought, and has since cost us billions.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08The islands' inhabitants
0:01:08 > 0:01:12remain the 3,000 most expensively defended people on Earth.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17The 1982 South Atlantic campaign was a triumph for the armed forces
0:01:17 > 0:01:20but as for its place in history,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24did it mark the start of a national revival
0:01:24 > 0:01:29or was it just a dramatic diversion on the path of our decline?
0:01:48 > 0:01:51CHEERING
0:01:51 > 0:01:53On Saturday 3rd July, 1982,
0:01:53 > 0:01:58less than three weeks after the Falklands War ended
0:01:58 > 0:02:01and before the task force was even home,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03Britain's prime minister came here
0:02:03 > 0:02:06to the unlikely setting of Cheltenham Race Course
0:02:06 > 0:02:10to sing a victory song to a rally of the Tory faithful.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16'Here, the Prime Minister set out her stall
0:02:16 > 0:02:18'for the rest of her reign in office.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22'Britain was back. Its post-World War II decline was over.'
0:02:24 > 0:02:28We faced them squarely, and we were determined to overcome.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32That is increasingly the mood of Britain.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Now, once again, Britain is not prepared to be pushed around.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43We have ceased to be a nation in retreat.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46APPLAUSE
0:02:49 > 0:02:54'The modern Falklands saga began 8,000 miles south of Cheltenham,
0:02:54 > 0:02:58'where a national government was struggling with economic woes
0:02:58 > 0:03:00'and bitter unpopularity.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'The Argentine military dictatorship
0:03:02 > 0:03:06'decided that a short, sharp triumph over British colonialism
0:03:06 > 0:03:10'was just what it needed to rescue its fortunes.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13'On April 2nd, 1982,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17'its forces invaded one of the last outposts of the British Empire,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20'a cluster of islands few people had ever thought about.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23'The landing of Argentine Marines
0:03:23 > 0:03:26'prompted a brief frenzy of triumphalism in Buenos Aires
0:03:26 > 0:03:28'and a huge political crisis in Britain.'
0:03:33 > 0:03:35'The World At One this Friday lunchtime.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38'Argentine Marines are reported to have landed on the Falklands.'
0:03:40 > 0:03:43I was in the middle or writing a book about the Second World War
0:03:43 > 0:03:45when the Falklands crisis erupted.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50I dropped everything for a berth with Thatcher's task force,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54because I thought that it was going to be
0:03:54 > 0:03:57the most extraordinary colonial drama of modern history,
0:03:57 > 0:03:59and so indeed it proved.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04For ten weeks of 1982,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07the Falklands conflict gripped the imagination of the world.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11'Both ships were hit. Sir Galahad was immediately in flames.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13'The helicopters queued up to join the perilous rescue.'
0:04:18 > 0:04:21It was intensely, if weirdly, romantic,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24short, and above all, victorious.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29'The mark of war will never be erased from the islands' life.'
0:04:31 > 0:04:33It became the most extraordinary experience of my life
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and of many others who sailed and marched with the task force.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44There IS a white flag flying over Stanley. Bloody marvellous.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49Attacking. Stand by.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55'To understand why the war made such an impact on Britain,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'we must try to see where it fitted into our past.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02'Growing up in the aftermath of World War II,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06'many of my generation were invited to rejoice, and keep rejoicing,
0:05:06 > 0:05:08'in Britain's triumph over Nazism
0:05:08 > 0:05:10'through a series of terrific war movies.'
0:05:13 > 0:05:16You're going to have a chance to hit the enemy harder
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and more destructively than any small force has ever done before!
0:05:23 > 0:05:26'The Falklands merged, almost seamlessly,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29'into Britain's cherished legend of the Second World War.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33'Victory in the South Atlantic
0:05:33 > 0:05:36'inspired a revival of our historic enthusiasm
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'for seeing ourselves as a warrior nation.'
0:05:45 > 0:05:48I name this ship Ark Royal.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52May God protect her and all who sail in her.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59'In 1950, the then-Queen launched the biggest ship
0:05:59 > 0:06:01'in the Royal Navy's history.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05'Ark Royal would become a symbol
0:06:05 > 0:06:08'of British naval and military pretensions around the world.
0:06:08 > 0:06:09'As war winners,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13'we felt entitled to keep an empire we could no longer afford,
0:06:13 > 0:06:17'together with armed forces around 750,000 strong.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22'We kept fighting - in Kenya, Korea, Cyprus, Malaya.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26'But Suez changed everything.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30'The 1956 attempt to retake the canal
0:06:30 > 0:06:33'became Britain's last big military adventure
0:06:33 > 0:06:35'before the Falklands War.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39'An Anglo-French task force landed in Egypt and was pushing inland
0:06:39 > 0:06:43'when the United States wielded its economic might
0:06:43 > 0:06:46'to force a humiliating withdrawal.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49'Suez became the foremost symbol of Britain's decline
0:06:49 > 0:06:51'and retreat from Empire.'
0:06:53 > 0:06:56'Totally and forever, Britain was on the way out.'
0:06:57 > 0:07:00'The United States rubbed in unwelcome truths
0:07:00 > 0:07:02'about our shrunken status,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06'most notoriously when former Secretary of State Dean Acheson
0:07:06 > 0:07:10'made a 1962 speech to West Point cadets.'
0:07:12 > 0:07:16'Great Britain has lost an Empire and has not yet found a role.'
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Acheson's words prompted a memorable sketch
0:07:21 > 0:07:23in the BBC satire show That Was The Week That Was.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32- Acheson's wild words have caused an international furore.- Nonsense!
0:07:32 > 0:07:34'That Was The Week played out a fantasy exchange
0:07:34 > 0:07:37'between Prime Minister Harold Macmillan
0:07:37 > 0:07:38'and President Jack Kennedy
0:07:38 > 0:07:42'which seemed, to many British people, too true to be funny.'
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Eh, what does Acheson think, Jack? It's Harold here.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49Harold Macmillan.
0:07:51 > 0:07:52M-A-C... Ah...
0:07:56 > 0:07:59I'm calling from London.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Now, looky here,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05this thing doesn't represent the views of your government, does it?
0:08:05 > 0:08:06Oh.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13'In 1968, HMS Eagle, Ark Royal's sister ship, quit Hong Kong.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20'A nation that wants to call itself a great power
0:08:20 > 0:08:22'must be capable of independent action.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25'The Labour government's withdrawal of our forces
0:08:25 > 0:08:26'from east of Suez
0:08:26 > 0:08:29'proclaimed to the world that this was no longer possible
0:08:29 > 0:08:32'for impoverished Britain.'
0:08:34 > 0:08:36We are withdrawing more quickly,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39from the Far East and the Middle East,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and making big consequential savings in defensive expenditure.
0:08:44 > 0:08:49We are recognising that we are no longer a superpower.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57'As part of a series of 1960s defence cuts,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59'plans to replace the striker carriers Eagle and Ark Royal
0:08:59 > 0:09:01'were branded unaffordable and cancelled.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10'Within a decade, both ships would be decommissioned, leaving Britain
0:09:10 > 0:09:13'without a big carrier to project power,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17'and support so-called "out-of-area operations".
0:09:17 > 0:09:21'The BBC's James Cameron saw the end of the east of Suez era.'
0:09:21 > 0:09:24There goes the last of the gunboats.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27She'll almost certainly never come back. We'll never come back.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Not in the way we used to think of ourselves.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34But nobody seems to have decided
0:09:34 > 0:09:36what sort of a future Britain wants.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40'Yet in 1975, a politician thrust herself
0:09:40 > 0:09:42'to the front of the national stage
0:09:42 > 0:09:45'who did know what she wanted Britain to be.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50'Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of the Conservative Party.'
0:09:51 > 0:09:54'We're not living up to the best in our character.'
0:09:54 > 0:09:57'With speeches delivered at the low point
0:09:57 > 0:10:02'of Britain's post-war fortunes, she offered a vision of a nation that might once again
0:10:02 > 0:10:03'achieve self-respect.'
0:10:04 > 0:10:08The same spirit that made us a great nation is still there,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10but somehow we're not using it.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16There was an awful sense of the inevitability of decline.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20An economy that was stuck in the past, in us, on the margins,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22slowly slipping away,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and everyone talking about "the British problem".
0:10:27 > 0:10:30I do not intend to be the first woman prime minister
0:10:30 > 0:10:35of a mediocre and declining Britain.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Good afternoon, Prime Minister!
0:10:41 > 0:10:43'When the Conservatives won the 1979 election,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47'Mrs Thatcher got her chance to reverse the nation's course.'
0:10:48 > 0:10:50There is now work to be done.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56'But her first years saw strikes, soaring inflation,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59'civil disorder, and harsh economic medicine.'
0:10:59 > 0:11:03I will not change just to court popularity.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09'Even Thatcher, the proponent of British greatness,
0:11:09 > 0:11:10'determined to save money
0:11:10 > 0:11:13'by imposing yet further reductions on the armed forces.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17'The Royal Navy was to shrink by 20%.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21'Its newest and most expensive ship, Invincible, faced the axe.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27'Her crew, which included Prince Andrew, were told their vessel,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31'pride of the fleet, was to be sold to Australia.'
0:11:31 > 0:11:36Naturally, we think we serve in the best ship in the Royal Navy.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38We're all very happy with her
0:11:38 > 0:11:42and we're most disappointed that she is going to leave us.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46'The sale of Invincible was all the more painful
0:11:46 > 0:11:49'because the ship heralded a new age in naval aviation.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53'Much smaller than the old Ark Royal,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55'she could nonetheless provide a platform
0:11:55 > 0:11:58'for the revolutionary Sea Harrier fighter.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05'The cuts devastated the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach.'
0:12:07 > 0:12:11He was a wonderful man, Henry Leach. He was a sailor's sailor.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14He and John Nott, the defence secretary,
0:12:14 > 0:12:15simply could not get on at all.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21John Nott was determined to castrate the Royal Navy.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24'For Leach, the sale of Invincible was the ultimate betrayal.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37'Just months before the outbreak of the Falklands War,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39'the First Sea Lord was on a collision course
0:12:39 > 0:12:41'with his defence secretary.'
0:12:41 > 0:12:46Modern sailors fight more of their battles ashore than they do afloat.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52One icy winter's day in November 1981,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Henry Leach,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58took the slow, slow train to remotest Cornwall
0:12:58 > 0:13:01to interrupt defence secretary John Nott
0:13:01 > 0:13:04in the midst of a shooting party
0:13:04 > 0:13:06to try to stop him selling the carrier Invincible
0:13:06 > 0:13:08to the Australians.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15'As a young officer in World War II,
0:13:15 > 0:13:19'Leach had been involved in the last big gun surface action
0:13:19 > 0:13:23'by a British battleship, the sinking of the Scharnhorst.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26'His father had been killed when the battleship he commanded
0:13:26 > 0:13:30'was sunk by Japanese aircraft, off Malaya.'
0:13:30 > 0:13:33He'd been with his father the night before he was killed
0:13:33 > 0:13:36in the Prince of Wales, when it and the Repulse were sunk.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41And Henry knew the value of aviation, the value of air cover.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44The main reason, of course, they were lost
0:13:44 > 0:13:46was because there was no air cover.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50He was determined to make sure that such things didn't happen again.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55'The Admiral reached the defence secretary's refuge,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59'Caerhays Castle in Cornwall, late in the afternoon
0:13:59 > 0:14:02'after an exasperating series of train delays.'
0:14:05 > 0:14:09After dinner, in this superbly traditional setting,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12the doughty old sea dog and the politician sat down
0:14:12 > 0:14:15to have the bitter row which Mrs Thatcher herself
0:14:15 > 0:14:18had flatly refused to meet the Admiral for.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21Leach, like every sailor, wanted the Royal Navy
0:14:21 > 0:14:25to maintain the means to project power far abroad.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Nott had simply been mandated by the Prime Minister to cut costs,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32scrap ships and concentrate defence in Europe.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35The Admiral could have saved his rail fare.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38The defence secretary refused to budge.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42'The Thatcher government's brutal defence review
0:14:42 > 0:14:44'caused morale in the sea service to plummet.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47When you want to say something, say it.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'Young officers such as Chris Parry then was, racked their brains
0:14:51 > 0:14:53'about what to do to prove the Navy still served a purpose.'
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Everybody was bemoaning what that would mean for the Navy
0:15:00 > 0:15:02and also for our careers.
0:15:02 > 0:15:03And then somebody said,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06"What we need is a good war against somebody
0:15:06 > 0:15:08"to prove to the public and the government
0:15:08 > 0:15:10"how useful the Navy is."
0:15:10 > 0:15:12And so, amid a couple of pints,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16we started discussing who might be a suitable opponent.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18You know, not too difficult, not too easy.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20And we eventually settled on the country
0:15:20 > 0:15:22we thought was just about right.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25And the real surprise was it was Argentina.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31'In April 1982, after decades in which budgets were slashed
0:15:31 > 0:15:34'and the Royal Navy deemed increasingly irrelevant,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38'fate threw the Admirals a wildly-unexpected lifeline.'
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Admiral Leach got the miracle he needed
0:15:42 > 0:15:44to save his beloved carriers,
0:15:44 > 0:15:45not from the Thatcher government
0:15:45 > 0:15:48but from the military junta in Buenos Aires.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53As soon as he heard Argentina was about to invade the Falklands,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56he rushed down to the House of Commons.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Blazing with gold braid and ribbons,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01he found the Prime Minister with his old adversary,
0:16:01 > 0:16:03the defence secretary.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09"Britain," he said, "could and must sail a task force,"
0:16:09 > 0:16:12because, "if we do not, in another few months,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14"we shall be living in a different country
0:16:14 > 0:16:16"whose word counts for little."
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Leach's superbly melodramatic intervention
0:16:20 > 0:16:24not only saved some warships from the scrap yard,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26they also determined Thatcher to fight.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30HORN BLOWS
0:16:30 > 0:16:35'HMS Invincible sailed for the South Atlantic just days later,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38'the deal with the Australians suspended.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41'She was joined by Hermes, designated flagship
0:16:41 > 0:16:45'of the Royal Navy's biggest task force since Suez.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49'Hermes had been reprieved from the breaker's yard.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51'The Royal Navy had to requisition
0:16:51 > 0:16:54'two of the country's most famous cruise liners
0:16:54 > 0:16:55'to transport the troops.
0:16:56 > 0:17:00'Mrs Thatcher was determined to reverse the political humiliation
0:17:00 > 0:17:03'which some thought would break her government.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07'I sailed on Canberra.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08'It was an emotional moment,
0:17:08 > 0:17:13'casting off for the 8,000-mile passage to the Falklands.'
0:17:17 > 0:17:18'It was a weird feeling
0:17:18 > 0:17:22'to be preparing for war aboard a cruise liner.
0:17:22 > 0:17:23'Though, at that stage,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27'few of us really believed it would come to a fight.'
0:17:29 > 0:17:31'I'd reported many conflicts,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35'but never a big, British naval and military operation.'
0:17:35 > 0:17:37'There was something very special
0:17:37 > 0:17:40'about going to watch one's own people fight.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42MUSIC: "Rule, Britannia"
0:17:50 > 0:17:53'Slowly we came to understand that the Prime Minister,
0:17:53 > 0:17:55'having determined upon a showdown,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58'was throwing every resource at Britain's command
0:17:58 > 0:17:59'into her huge gamble.'
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Margaret Thatcher said,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04once she'd determined on recovering the Falkland Islands,
0:18:04 > 0:18:07every single national asset would be mobilised
0:18:07 > 0:18:10in order to enable that to happen.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16'The amphibious force approached the Falklands after six weeks at sea.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21'War had, by now, suddenly become intensely real.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26'The task force faced a deadly threat from the Argentine Air Force,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28'which battered the Royal Navy.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33'The British lacked many things in facing the enemy onslaught,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36'but their planes proved terrific.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39'Simon Hargreaves is, today, a unique survivor.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42'Last among the South Atlantic Sea Harrier pilots
0:18:42 > 0:18:44'who is still flying fast jets.'
0:18:45 > 0:18:48'He and his fellow airmen provided the air support
0:18:48 > 0:18:52'which alone made it narrowly feasible to recover the Falklands.'
0:18:56 > 0:19:0025, I was. Very much a surprise, and very exciting.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05We were providing air cover, so just our presence there
0:19:05 > 0:19:08provided protection for the ships in Falklands Sound.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11Pivotal to the success of the task force
0:19:11 > 0:19:14was the contribution of the aircraft carriers.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17'Thatcher's government had cause to be very grateful
0:19:17 > 0:19:21'that Invincible had not been flogged off.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24'Sea Harriers were responsible for the destruction
0:19:24 > 0:19:27'of most of the Argentine aircraft destroyed.'
0:19:27 > 0:19:29We were very effective.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32- I think it was 22 we shot down. - For no loss.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37It really was the dawn of a new era for naval aviation.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Right, well, this is where we keep the funny old relics
0:19:46 > 0:19:47from 30 years ago.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Those boots walked from one end of the Falklands to the other,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54and they did me pretty good while it was going on.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57That was my old parachute smock, which I haven't worn for 30 years,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00but I kept it because, gosh, it meant a lot to me 30 years ago.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07'In one way, most of us found that sodden island
0:20:07 > 0:20:11'comfortingly familiar, like Dartmoor or the Hebrides.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13'But the icy cold and wet,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17'the need for thousands of troops, carrying heavy loads to walk,
0:20:17 > 0:20:22'to "yomp", as Marines put it, imposed a huge strain on every man.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26'The one big advantage we had in that conflict
0:20:26 > 0:20:29'was that it was militarily simple.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32'If only we could take the islands' capital, Port Stanley,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35'where most of the enemy were dug in, we would have won.'
0:20:38 > 0:20:41That was a long, long walk. My God, it was rough.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49God, one remembers those marshes so well. Having one's feet always wet.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53And I never walked half as far as the Royal Marines and the paras.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59I never forget going over to talk to a young Royal Marine.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03I walked away. 20 minutes later, an Argentine air attack came in,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06a terrible explosion, and that was the end of him.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09And it was so strange thinking of that young man I'd been talking to
0:21:09 > 0:21:11only a few minutes before.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20The fiercest fighting of the war followed.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23The British brilliantly exploited their skills.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26First, yomping, patrolling and mine-clearing,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30then staging night assaults on strongly-held enemy positions.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36'The superiority of our men
0:21:36 > 0:21:38'to the enemy's half-hearted conscripts really told.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40'However tough that campaign,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44'it perfectly suited the qualities of Britain's armed forces.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48'On 14th June, the Argentines surrendered.'
0:21:50 > 0:21:55There was a huge exhilaration about marching into Port Stanley.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Although filthy and utterly exhausted,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03every man on the task force shared a euphoric high.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05CHEERING
0:22:05 > 0:22:08HORNS HONK
0:22:08 > 0:22:12'Their arrival home sparked extraordinary British celebrations
0:22:12 > 0:22:14'of a kind unseen since 1945.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19'Many men returning from the South Atlantic
0:22:19 > 0:22:22'felt that they landed in a different Britain.'
0:22:26 > 0:22:28When we left Portsmouth in March, 1982,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32I think we left a fairly demoralised, depressed
0:22:32 > 0:22:33and downbeat country.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38When we came back in July we returned to a country
0:22:38 > 0:22:41that had a spring in its step, that was confident again,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43looking forward to the future.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Few thought that the qualities which made this nation great
0:22:50 > 0:22:52still lived in its people today.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55A task force showed the way last spring,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57and our country found its soul.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05'The Falklands lit a candle of hope in many breasts
0:23:05 > 0:23:09'that we weren't doomed forever to live with national decline.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13'The war had nothing to do with Britain's real problems in 1982,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17'but it was nonetheless, for many of us, a transforming moment,
0:23:17 > 0:23:20'and sent the reputation of the armed forces soaring.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29'Four pretty old men, sailing in Plymouth Sound in 2012,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34'shared an experience in the South Atlantic that changed our lives.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38'Nick Vaux led 42 Commando to Falklands victory.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41'Ewen Southby-Tailor,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44'one of the few men who knew the islands inside out,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47'played a key role in guiding the task force.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49'Peter Babbington won a Military Cross,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51'leading the assault on Mount Harriet.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56'The war made them, and the rest of the returning task force,
0:23:56 > 0:24:00'popular heroes, in a fashion unseen since 1945.'
0:24:03 > 0:24:06It had felt an incredible privilege to watch the task force
0:24:06 > 0:24:09in the South Atlantic do something very remarkable,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12to see the Brits really getting something right.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14But how did you feel after it was all over?
0:24:14 > 0:24:15The reception we received,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18it didn't matter whether they were elderly people,
0:24:18 > 0:24:22they were young people, it was extraordinary.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24It was right across the spectrum of society.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Certainly, the drive home from Southampton in my car,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31with my son waving a green beret out of the window.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34You couldn't get through Bridport,
0:24:34 > 0:24:36because of the pints of beer people brought out to you.
0:24:41 > 0:24:42I think it cascaded down,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45for probably about the next five to ten years.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48People felt they'd done a really good job.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52I believe it raised morale in the armed forces themselves,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55because they had the chance to do something serious
0:24:55 > 0:24:57and they did it well.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01'The US military were mightily impressed.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04'Peter Babbington witnessed their reaction first-hand,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07'when he described his experiences
0:25:07 > 0:25:09'to several thousand American Marines.'
0:25:09 > 0:25:12I gave them a company commander's view
0:25:12 > 0:25:15of what had happened to the Falklands.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20The audience was totally quiet, for the period I was speaking,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22and when I stopped to give them questions,
0:25:22 > 0:25:28the whole cinema just stood up, and started to applaud.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31It was a standing ovation by these guys.
0:25:31 > 0:25:32It was quite overwhelming.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:25:39 > 0:25:41'While the British celebrated
0:25:41 > 0:25:44'around the world, even nations with no cause to love us
0:25:44 > 0:25:47'were impressed by what our armed forces had done.'
0:25:47 > 0:25:50The Russians were absolutely astounded.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54They were actually hugely full of admiration, and also worried.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57They suddenly realised that a NATO country
0:25:57 > 0:25:59that wasn't America, a European NATO country,
0:25:59 > 0:26:03would fight for a principle
0:26:03 > 0:26:05and that, perhaps, NATO wasn't such a pushover.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10I'll never forget Egyptian journalists
0:26:10 > 0:26:12showing me the cover of Newsweek magazine
0:26:12 > 0:26:15with a picture of HMS Hermes steaming south,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and the headline "The Empire Strikes Back".
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It showed that Britain was not to be taken for granted,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25that here was a country prepared to fight back.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30MUSIC: "Rule, Britannia"
0:26:30 > 0:26:33'Margaret Thatcher found her personal standing
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'transformed by the war,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39'the sea change first signalled at the Beaconsfield by-election,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42'fought on 27th May at the height of the conflict.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51'The Tories, at the start of the Falklands crisis,
0:26:51 > 0:26:53'were politically beleaguered.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57'They'd been losing by-elections to the SDP and trailed in the polls.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02'Beaconsfield would be a critical political test.'
0:27:02 > 0:27:05What was the expectation in the Tory camp
0:27:05 > 0:27:08before this by-election campaign started?
0:27:08 > 0:27:11The Tory hierarchy were terrified we were going to lose,
0:27:11 > 0:27:13and they threw everything at this by-election.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17They brought in professional agents from all round the country.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19They were spending so much money,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22I, as treasurer of the party, refused to take the responsibility for it,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25cos I knew they couldn't keep within the financial limits.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30'The Labour candidate was a CND enthusiast
0:27:30 > 0:27:33'who would later experience such a transformation
0:27:33 > 0:27:37'that some people considered him Margaret Thatcher's successor.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40'29-year-old Tony Blair was fighting his first campaign
0:27:40 > 0:27:42'in a normally-safe Conservative seat.'
0:27:44 > 0:27:48Although we thought we would not win Beaconsfield,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51we thought we had a good chance of upping our votes
0:27:51 > 0:27:52from the last election.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01'The BBC's man covering the by-election was Michael Cockerell.'
0:28:03 > 0:28:07How much impact did the Falklands War make on the by-election here?
0:28:07 > 0:28:10It wasn't stated, but the whole Conservative campaign
0:28:10 > 0:28:12was wrapped up in a Union Jack, I think.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14I remember the Conservative agent saying,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16"We don't need to do any canvassing here,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18"the Ministry of Defence is doing it for us."
0:28:18 > 0:28:21- THATCHER:- Argentine nationals... - 'Tim Smith, the Tory candidate,
0:28:21 > 0:28:25'brandished a message from Mrs Thatcher
0:28:25 > 0:28:27'proclaiming that the by-election was really a referendum
0:28:27 > 0:28:32'on the Government's conduct of the South Atlantic crisis.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36'Tony Blair thought there was only one proper answer to that.'
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Tony was definitely anti-war.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41A war just wasn't necessary.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45He said, "We must keep looking for a negotiated settlement.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48"We can't let the wishes of the islanders determine the Falklands."
0:28:50 > 0:28:52We weren't prepared to fight an election on a war base.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Suddenly, the whole country was behind Maggie Thatcher
0:29:00 > 0:29:02and we were completely floored.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04I think it was just so overwhelming.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12People were cheering when the Belgrano went down
0:29:12 > 0:29:14and it was really very sad.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22- Smith, Timothy John.- Conservative. - 23,000...
0:29:24 > 0:29:27'The Conservatives won by a landslide.'
0:29:29 > 0:29:34- Blair, Anthony Charles Linton. - Labour.- 3,886.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Labour's vote share in Beaconsfield was hard,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40and Blair lost his deposit.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42This would prove the only election he lost
0:29:42 > 0:29:44in a 25-year political career.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50We were all extremely disappointed that it had turned out so badly.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54I mean, Tony was really, really disappointed.
0:29:59 > 0:30:05We had thought that people might have thought about other issues,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08and voted for us.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11But they didn't.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14Tony Blair, afterwards, said to Robin Cook,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18"The thing I learnt from the Beaconsfield by-election
0:30:18 > 0:30:22"is that wars make prime ministers popular."
0:30:22 > 0:30:24'In Beaconsfield, as across the country,
0:30:24 > 0:30:29'a "Falklands factor" was becoming a potent political force.'
0:30:29 > 0:30:32# There's only one Maggie Thatcher One Maggie Thatcher. #
0:30:35 > 0:30:36Before the Falklands War,
0:30:36 > 0:30:41Margaret Thatcher was the most unpopular prime minister in British history.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45After its end, almost 50% of respondents said that success
0:30:45 > 0:30:47had boosted their opinion of her.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52In April, the Tories lagged Labour in almost every opinion poll.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55By July, they were an amazing 27 points ahead.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Public opinion hates long and inconclusive wars.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03But, my, how it loves a quick victory.
0:31:06 > 0:31:11Succeeding prime ministers have seen what the Falklands War
0:31:11 > 0:31:15did for Mrs Thatcher, did for her standing, did for her politically.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20It gave her a sort of aura.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24The Boadicea image, the warrior, wrapped in the Union Flag,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28going into battle and vanquishing her enemies.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35'The Conservatives went on to win the 1983 general election,
0:31:35 > 0:31:39'with some help from the dire state of Michael Foot's Labour Party,
0:31:39 > 0:31:41'but also from a popular revival
0:31:41 > 0:31:44'which had started in the South Atlantic.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51'Tony Blair was one of the few successful Labour newcomers in 1983,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54'winning the safe common seat of Sedgefield.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02'A quarter of a century later, the two past political adversaries
0:32:02 > 0:32:06'met again for the 25th anniversary commemoration of the Falklands War.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11'Blair was then in the last weeks of his own premiership.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14'He told an interviewer that, as national leader,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17'he would have responded to the Argentine invasion
0:32:17 > 0:32:19'just as Mrs Thatcher did.
0:32:19 > 0:32:21'The Falklands conflict
0:32:21 > 0:32:24'left a legacy that powerfully influenced both,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27'and which is still evident in Britain's foreign commitments.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36'In 1990, Kuwait was invaded by the Iraqi Army,
0:32:36 > 0:32:39'sparking a new international crisis
0:32:39 > 0:32:42'in Mrs Thatcher's last months in power.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46'She urged the Americans to lead a stand against Saddam Hussein.'
0:32:46 > 0:32:50Iraq's invasion of Kuwait defies every principle
0:32:50 > 0:32:51for which the United Nations stands.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58If we let it succeed, no small country can ever feel safe again.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04Thatcher promised British military support
0:33:04 > 0:33:07for the American-led coalition to free Kuwait.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14For decades, the great powers had been wary of joining wars,
0:33:14 > 0:33:18especially in the Middle East amid the threat of nuclear Armageddon,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21but the Falklands War made force seem once more
0:33:21 > 0:33:25a tactical option, including for British prime ministers.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27War became a useable instrument.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30It got us over the hump that, actually, you know,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33war would be so horrific that we wouldn't want to go there.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36Actually, war wasn't that horrific. The loss of life wasn't that great.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38So, it made war useable.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41So that was the long-term foreign policy effect.
0:33:44 > 0:33:4853,000 British personnel deployed with the coalition to free Kuwait.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50The Falklands would be the last war
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Britain was capable of fighting alone.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Ironically, renewed Defence cuts by Mrs Thatcher
0:33:57 > 0:34:01had left our military barely capable of fielding an armoured division.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06The operation was swift and successful.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Once again Western governments got the message that war could work.
0:34:10 > 0:34:13I do think the Falklands gave us
0:34:13 > 0:34:17a delusion of the effectiveness of military power.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21I think it whetted prime ministers' appetites for this sort of thing.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26An important part of Mrs Thatcher's legacy to her successors
0:34:26 > 0:34:30was a view that Britain must be seen to walk tall in the world.
0:34:30 > 0:34:3215 years after the Falklands War,
0:34:32 > 0:34:38the former Labour candidate for Beaconsfield fought an election for the tenancy of Downing Street
0:34:38 > 0:34:43on a very different agenda from the one that he'd had back in 1982.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45BROADCAST: 'In a rapidly-changing world,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48'we seem somehow to have lost our sense of purpose.'
0:34:48 > 0:34:50SNORING
0:34:51 > 0:34:55'Now someone has emerged who is determined to give it back to us.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00'He is the most-talked-about politician of his generation.'
0:35:00 > 0:35:05Weeks before the 1997 election, Tony Blair delivered a speech
0:35:05 > 0:35:08in which he enfolded himself in the Union Jack
0:35:08 > 0:35:11in a fashion that came naturally to Mrs Thatcher,
0:35:11 > 0:35:14but then seemed amazing in a Labour leader.
0:35:15 > 0:35:21I am a British patriot, and I am proud of being a British patriot.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24The Britain in my vision is not a Britain
0:35:24 > 0:35:29turning its back on the world - narrow, shy, uncertain.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34It is a Britain confident of its place in the world, sure of itself,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37able to engage with the world and provide leadership in the world
0:35:37 > 0:35:43precisely because we are confident of our own place in the world.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45They wanted to recapture patriotism.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48And that speech in the lead up to the election was making it clear
0:35:48 > 0:35:50that he was patriotic, the Labour Party was patriotic,
0:35:50 > 0:35:52it wasn't the preserve of the Tory Party,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and he saw Britain having a role in the world,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56and wanted us to have a leading position.
0:35:58 > 0:36:04Patriotism was a big theme of Blair's 1997 Labour election victory celebration.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08Britain's new leader did not start out
0:36:08 > 0:36:10intending to take the country to war,
0:36:10 > 0:36:14but crises have a way of making all our rulers see things differently.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17This is something that happens to Prime Ministers.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21once they've been elected, they realise they have more freedom of manoeuvre in foreign policy
0:36:21 > 0:36:23than they do in domestic policy.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Trying to reform the welfare system or change the economy
0:36:25 > 0:36:28is a grinding, difficult political business.
0:36:28 > 0:36:30In foreign policy it's easier to make a decision
0:36:30 > 0:36:32and see it happen much more quickly.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37In 1998 a new Iraq crisis persuaded Tony Blair
0:36:37 > 0:36:42to participate in a brisk bombing campaign,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45after which he flew to the Gulf to congratulate RAF crews.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48He would end up putting Britain's armed forces in harm's way
0:36:48 > 0:36:51more often than any of his predecessors.
0:36:56 > 0:36:59The following year, Albanian refugees began pouring
0:36:59 > 0:37:03in tens of thousands out of Kosovo amid a Serb reign of terror.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09Before deploying British ground troops on this new mercy mission,
0:37:09 > 0:37:13Blair consulted the victor of the Falklands War.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15He thought very long and very hard about it.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18He had many sleepless nights worrying about it.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20He asked me to bring Mrs Thatcher in,
0:37:20 > 0:37:22and I got Mrs Thatcher to come into Downing Street
0:37:22 > 0:37:24and meet with him and talk to him about it.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28It was someone who he could share the angst of that decision with,
0:37:28 > 0:37:31because she'd had to make a similar decision herself.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34The Kosovo intervention was successful.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37Blair, the Falklands sceptic,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40was becoming Blair, the enthusiast for committing troops
0:37:40 > 0:37:41to what he considered moral war.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45The British public seemed supportive,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48if by no means enthusiastic.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51The South Atlantic model for a quick, successful conflict
0:37:51 > 0:37:53still seemed valid.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56The Falklands itself created an expectation that actually,
0:37:56 > 0:38:00wars were short, sharp, decisive and delivered what you wanted to do.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04And ironically, we had a couple of coalition campaigns,
0:38:04 > 0:38:09the first Iraq War and the war over Kosovo in 1999,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13which conformed to the Falklands expectation.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16So for the last quarter of the 20th century,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19there was this presumption in the Western world,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22and particularly in Britain,
0:38:22 > 0:38:27that actually war was quite a good deliverer of policy objectives.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33But the Bush-Blair alliance, first to fight in Afghanistan
0:38:33 > 0:38:37and then to invade Iraq, changed everything.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41British governments now learnt the painful lessons
0:38:41 > 0:38:45about the perils of following our key ally too blindly, too far,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49despite all their mutual exchanges of flattery.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Prime Minister, the entire world salutes you
0:38:55 > 0:38:58and your gallant people and gallant nation.
0:39:00 > 0:39:05Yet, contrary to the legend of Margaret Thatcher's cosy relationship with Ronald Reagan,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09the Falklands War tested the Anglo-American alliance to its limits.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13In 1982, it was a bitter revelation for the Prime Minister
0:39:13 > 0:39:16to discover that most of the administration,
0:39:16 > 0:39:19including the President, wanted to withhold support from Britain.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23It's a very difficult situation for the United States,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25because we're friends with both of the countries
0:39:25 > 0:39:27engaged in this dispute.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Reagan was told by key advisers that a Falklands War
0:39:31 > 0:39:34might damage Washington's South American clients.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39UN Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick was foremost among those
0:39:39 > 0:39:44anxious for the welfare of the fascist junta in Buenos Aires.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47The Argentines of course have claimed for 200 years that they own
0:39:47 > 0:39:51those islands, and the British have claimed that they own those islands.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55And we have said we have no position on who owns those islands.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Now, if the Argentines own the islands,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01then moving troops into them is not armed aggression.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06As British troops prepared to make their final push for Port Stanley,
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Kirkpatrick urged Reagan to make Thatcher hold back
0:40:10 > 0:40:14from humiliating Argentina on the battlefield.
0:40:16 > 0:40:22It was Memorial Day, 31st May, when America commemorates its war dead.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27After meeting Kirkpatrick, Reagan drove to Arlington Cemetery
0:40:27 > 0:40:31where, in a characteristically sentimental speech,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34he recalled World War II's sacrifice and principles
0:40:34 > 0:40:38at the very moment he was urging Thatcher to abandon both.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43Winston Churchill said of those he knew in World War II,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45"They seemed to be the only young men
0:40:45 > 0:40:48"who could laugh and fight at the same time."
0:40:51 > 0:40:55Each died for a cause he considered more important than his own life.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59To defend values which make up what we call civilisation.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05And how they must have wished that no other generation of young men
0:41:05 > 0:41:08to follow would have to undergo that same experience.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13On the same day that President Reagan spoke,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16he personally telephoned Margaret Thatcher on the hotline
0:41:16 > 0:41:20to urge her to accept a diplomatic compromise
0:41:20 > 0:41:23rather than inflict outright military defeat
0:41:23 > 0:41:25on Argentina in the Falklands.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29His administration believed that such an outcome
0:41:29 > 0:41:31threatened American interests
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and its crusade against the Left in South America.
0:41:35 > 0:41:40The Prime Minister rebuffed the President with brutal directness,
0:41:40 > 0:41:43saying, "I have to take them now.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47"I didn't lose some of my best ships and some of my finest lives
0:41:47 > 0:41:51"to leave quietly after a ceasefire without the Argentines withdrawing.
0:41:51 > 0:41:53"This is democracy and our islands,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56"and the very worst thing for democracy would be
0:41:56 > 0:41:57"if we failed now."
0:42:01 > 0:42:04Here, at a critical moment in our fortunes,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08was evidence of just how roughly the United States could treat us,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12exposing the limitations of the so-called "special relationship"
0:42:12 > 0:42:16at moments when our two countries' strategic interests diverged.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21It was amazing luck that the United States Defence Secretary,
0:42:21 > 0:42:24Casper Weinberger, was a staunch Anglophile.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29He, almost single-handed, secured critical weapons intelligence
0:42:29 > 0:42:33and logistical support for the British Falklands War effort.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38British policy-makers learnt their lesson from that experience
0:42:38 > 0:42:41that we better fight our future wars with the Americans or not at all.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Since 1982, British defence policy
0:42:44 > 0:42:47has been ever more closely locked into alliances
0:42:47 > 0:42:50for political advantage and from military necessity.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57In 2003, Tony Blair's government
0:42:57 > 0:43:00deployed 46,000 British servicemen in Iraq.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04It was the last time in history that Britain would own soldiers
0:43:04 > 0:43:08to send such numbers to war, and the story had no happy ending.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17In 2006 the armed forces, fresh from perceived failure in Iraq,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22accepted a dramatically-expanded role in Afghanistan.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Tony Blair dispatched a brigade to Helmand Province.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30The Falklands War was a huge challenge,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33but it provided a perfect theatre for the Royal Marines,
0:43:33 > 0:43:35paras and special forces
0:43:35 > 0:43:39to display their skills against weak opposition.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44Victory gave some people exaggerated ideas about what we could do.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48Fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents on their home turf,
0:43:48 > 0:43:51in highly political wars among the people,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53proved tougher than beating the Argentines.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56Generals much share with ministers blame for some of the things
0:43:56 > 0:43:59that have gone wrong with our wars since 1982.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03Their can-do spirit persuaded them to sign up for some under-resourced
0:44:03 > 0:44:08and ill-considered campaigns that have led to a lot of grief.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13You deal with a general or an admiral or an air marshal
0:44:13 > 0:44:19and he comes marching in, often in uniform, and says it can be done.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23And I've seen successive chiefs of the Defence staff
0:44:23 > 0:44:27manipulate prime ministers and senior ministers
0:44:27 > 0:44:30in a quite extraordinary way.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35In the case of both Iraq
0:44:35 > 0:44:39and Afghanistan, the military were very gung-ho, keen to be involved,
0:44:39 > 0:44:42because they wanted to remain an effective fighting force.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46It's by participating in wars in that way that they can do so.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50There's no doubt in my mind,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53from my experience in the Ministry of Defence,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56that the Army saw the interventions in Iraq
0:44:56 > 0:44:58and Afghanistan as their "Falklands moment".
0:44:58 > 0:45:00The ability to impress on the nation
0:45:00 > 0:45:03and politicians about their utility into the future.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08And there was this idea, frankly, that if you don't use forces,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10you're going to lose them.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15But in Helmand, the Army found itself fighting battles
0:45:15 > 0:45:17as fierce as any since the Falklands.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20And even when they won the firefights, they proved unable
0:45:20 > 0:45:23to force an outcome in an intensely political conflict.
0:45:27 > 0:45:31Just as we gained considerable prestige by our success
0:45:31 > 0:45:35in the war over the Falklands I think our prestige,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37particular in military terms, has been diminished
0:45:37 > 0:45:40by our participation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42The two central factors
0:45:42 > 0:45:45which were not present in the Falklands,
0:45:45 > 0:45:47but which are the problem in Iraq and Afghanistan,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49are the question of the legitimacy of going in,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51the question of the local support.
0:45:51 > 0:45:53What really crippled us in the end in Iraq and Afghanistan
0:45:53 > 0:45:56is that the Iraqi or the Afghan population,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59in the end, didn't consent and support.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02And it's that political problem of winning over the imaginations
0:46:02 > 0:46:06of people that didn't bedevil us in the Falklands, and it has since.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09The South Atlantic conflict
0:46:09 > 0:46:12brought a joyous British public onto the streets
0:46:12 > 0:46:16to celebrate a swift success.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20The long campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, by contrast,
0:46:20 > 0:46:22inspired mass protest.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31The dead began to come home in a painfully public fashion,
0:46:31 > 0:46:34accompanied by rituals much more elaborate than those
0:46:34 > 0:46:37that greeted 1982 South Atlantic casualties.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43British society had become markedly more averse to risk,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46and more sceptical of the merits of sacrifice.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56At the end of the Falklands War, the parents of a British para,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Pamela and Richard Jones, were toasting British victory.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Everybody had been out celebrating. Everybody knew us.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11They were saying, "Oh, great, Craig will be back,"
0:47:11 > 0:47:13all this kind of thing.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15So after celebrating the war's over,
0:47:15 > 0:47:19then we had the shock of being told he'd been killed.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21We'd believed he'd got through.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26He was the last soldier killed.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31He was killed at about 8:30 on the last day,
0:47:31 > 0:47:36and then overnight it all finished and they surrendered.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Ashes to ashes...
0:47:42 > 0:47:46Most of the 255 servicemen who died in the Falklands
0:47:46 > 0:47:49were buried where they fell, in accordance with tradition.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54But the Joneses joined a campaign to have their son brought home.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57Amen.
0:47:57 > 0:48:02We wrote to so many people, and there wasn't any strong argument back,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06or strong letters back saying, "No, we can't do it," or whatever.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09So, they were thinking about it, then a few more letters went
0:48:09 > 0:48:11and other people wrote,
0:48:11 > 0:48:14and I think they realised then it was time to change.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21In November 1982, Craig Jones' body arrived home
0:48:21 > 0:48:23with those of 63 comrades,
0:48:23 > 0:48:27at a low-key harbour-side ceremony.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29The public scarcely noticed,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32but a precedent was set for the return of our dead
0:48:32 > 0:48:36from foreign fields that's now become a focus for public sentiment.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45After a six-month tour in Afghanistan,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48the 9/12th Lancers recently staged a homecoming march
0:48:48 > 0:48:52through Northampton, near where Craig Jones grew up.
0:48:55 > 0:49:00Parades like this seem to me very different from those of 1982.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03People turn out to applaud the courage and prowess
0:49:03 > 0:49:07of ordinary soldiers, not the cause for which they've been fighting.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15I've got a feeling that we may find that the Falklands
0:49:15 > 0:49:21was the last really popular war that Britain ever fights.
0:49:21 > 0:49:22A lot of young men died,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25but you could see something tangible at the end -
0:49:25 > 0:49:29that we'd given back the freedom of people who we consider our own.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31The Falklands felt very different, even at the time,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35from today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, didn't it?
0:49:35 > 0:49:39In Afghanistan, we go on, year after year after year,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43and it's difficult to sometimes, for the man on the street,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46to understand why we're doing what we're doing
0:49:46 > 0:49:50and what will be - is there a tangible finish, or a finish line?
0:49:50 > 0:49:52Can someone draw a line in the sand and say,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55"Once we pass that, we've won?"
0:49:58 > 0:50:00Some politicians question whether,
0:50:00 > 0:50:02after the Iraq and Afghan experiences,
0:50:02 > 0:50:07the public will ever again support deployment of a big army abroad
0:50:07 > 0:50:10unless Britain is directly threatened.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13The Cameron government has been strongly influenced
0:50:13 > 0:50:18by public opinion in its decision to seek an early exit from Afghanistan.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23I believe the country needs to know there's an end point to all of this.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25So from 2015, there will not be troops
0:50:25 > 0:50:28in anything like the numbers there are now,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30and crucially they will not be in a combat role.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39It's a typical irony of history that after all
0:50:39 > 0:50:42our expensive modern wars, hot and cold,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45we discover that the latest threat to the West
0:50:45 > 0:50:49comes not from enemy missiles or invaders but from economics.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53Since the 2008 banking crisis exploded,
0:50:53 > 0:50:54we have been growing to realise
0:50:54 > 0:50:57that our children will live in a poorer country.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01Britain is not as rich or successful as we'd thought.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03And this impacts painfully on the Defence budget
0:51:03 > 0:51:06and on our ability to go to war.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14Well, here we are 30 years on from the Falklands War.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17And a visitor who landed for the first time from Mars
0:51:17 > 0:51:20since Margaret Thatcher became prime minister
0:51:20 > 0:51:22might think not much had changed.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27Angry trade unionists marching and striking, the economy reeling,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Defence spending slashed.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Today our governments believe that Britain can no longer afford
0:51:34 > 0:51:37the sort of armed forces that sometimes enabled us
0:51:37 > 0:51:41to punch above our weight and to win the Falklands War.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Military might has gone out of fashion in Britain, maybe forever.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Early in December 2010,
0:51:51 > 0:51:56the 1980s vintage carrier Ark Royal made its last voyage.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58To save cash, the carrier,
0:51:58 > 0:52:02along with the Harriers decisive for Falklands victory,
0:52:02 > 0:52:03were to be scrapped.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05It was one of those spooky days.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08Perfectly, sort of funereal sort of moments
0:52:08 > 0:52:11as the ship appeared with tugs out of the fog,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14and rather sort of mournfully sailed past
0:52:14 > 0:52:16into Portsmouth for the last time.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20It was very upsetting. Definitely shed a silent tear or two.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The cuts were consequences of a so-called Strategic Defence Review
0:52:25 > 0:52:29that was really a ruthless cost-cutting exercise.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Every such shake-up since Suez has cut our forces,
0:52:32 > 0:52:35even if few governments have been willing honestly
0:52:35 > 0:52:37to cut our commitments.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40But today we really are scraping bottom.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44Britain's Defence budget could fall below 2% of GDP.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46We're spending less of our national income
0:52:46 > 0:52:49on security than ever in modern history.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54We're getting pretty close to what I would call critical mass.
0:52:54 > 0:52:59Some people would say we've been below it. We've always taken risks.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04My worry is now the risks we're taking may well be unacceptable
0:53:04 > 0:53:06and catch us out.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11If you want to see the kind of hardware
0:53:11 > 0:53:15that won the Falklands War, it's now found only in a museum.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20A new generation knows almost nothing about our martial past
0:53:20 > 0:53:23or indeed about the Falklands.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27We all grew up to think of British history as a terrific,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30romantic pageant in which we fought endless wars and battles.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34And nowadays, I don't think the way you're taught history
0:53:34 > 0:53:38is anything like that at all, is it? Do you learn about Trafalgar?
0:53:38 > 0:53:42- No, we don't.- Would you know what year Trafalgar was?- No.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45I mean, would you know about Waterloo?
0:53:45 > 0:53:47Any, anybody make a guess what year Waterloo was?
0:53:47 > 0:53:52- Was it 1600s, or 1800s?- 1815.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56Now, I think perhaps our generation,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58we grew up more to believe that being patriotic
0:53:58 > 0:54:00had something to do with fighting wars,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02and nowadays you all don't feel that.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05Maybe it's right that, in the 21st century, you should feel that way,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07but gosh, it's different.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12New generations know as little about our modern defence
0:54:12 > 0:54:15as they do about our fighting past.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18But they may yet be surprised to find that soldiers,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21or our lack of them, will still matter as the 21st-century advances.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27I think we shall live to be sorry if we forget history
0:54:27 > 0:54:31and treat Britain's defence capability as an optional extra.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35I'm no supporter of reckless military adventures,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37for some of Blair's wars seem madness,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40but a grown-up country should have grown-up armed forces.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44I don't want to see more so-called "moral interventions"
0:54:44 > 0:54:48but I do want Britain to be capable of defending its interests
0:54:48 > 0:54:51against its enemies, heaven knows who, where or when.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Every nation is hopeless at predicting
0:55:01 > 0:55:04what the next war will be like.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08Where's the threat coming from?
0:55:08 > 0:55:11What you have to do is to have the kind of forces
0:55:11 > 0:55:17which can react quickly to the unexpected,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20and I would think that's a lesson from the Falklands.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26You cannot have forces that are too rigid,
0:55:26 > 0:55:28too focused on specific threats,
0:55:28 > 0:55:32or you won't have the capacity ever to go and do things where
0:55:32 > 0:55:36you are not involved in wars of choice, you're in wars of necessity.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44British governments in future need to show better judgement
0:55:44 > 0:55:47about staying out of the wrong wars.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50But strong armed forces give us
0:55:50 > 0:55:52a standing in the world that still matters.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56We can't afford just to resign from the international stage,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59and in addition to soft power, ambassadors and aid,
0:55:59 > 0:56:03we also need sometimes to be able to use hard power.
0:56:03 > 0:56:07This isn't just about romantic nostalgia for a lost past,
0:56:07 > 0:56:10it's about being able to defend our vital national interests
0:56:10 > 0:56:14against enemies, unless we think we'll never have any again.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19One of the best results of the Falklands War
0:56:19 > 0:56:24was that it caused the fall of Argentina's military dictatorship.
0:56:24 > 0:56:26The country's been a democracy ever since,
0:56:26 > 0:56:31but Britain's 30th anniversary present from the current government
0:56:31 > 0:56:36is a bombardment of angry words, renewing its claim to the Islands.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41Argentine TV broadcast an advertisement
0:56:41 > 0:56:45professing to show what life would be like on the Falklands
0:56:45 > 0:56:47if they become Las Malvinas.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51ADVERTISMENT: Wake up, it's a beautiful morning. Have a nice day.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56The 1982 story isn't over.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00Britain faces real dilemmas about how to respond to Buenos Aires,
0:57:00 > 0:57:04and the bad news is that we're increasingly diplomatically isolated,
0:57:04 > 0:57:07even from the United States.
0:57:09 > 0:57:14We want very much to encourage both countries to sit down.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17Now, we cannot make either one do so,
0:57:17 > 0:57:20but we think it is the right way to proceed.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24HYMN: "Praise My Soul, The King Of Heaven"
0:57:30 > 0:57:33After the 1982 war was over,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36the British gave thanks for victory in St Paul's Cathedral.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42Among scores of memorials to our conflicts,
0:57:42 > 0:57:47some of which saved the nation, the Falklands now has its place here.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54For me, the war was a supreme romantic adventure,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58a freak of history that I shall be forever grateful to have shared in.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01But it seems almost as remote from modern Britain
0:58:01 > 0:58:03as Trafalgar or Waterloo.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07We should remember it though, with pride -
0:58:07 > 0:58:09something Britain did really well.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11We stood alone in a good cause
0:58:11 > 0:58:14against the dictatorship's armed aggression.
0:58:14 > 0:58:17We fought and won the Falklands War.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21I think it'll come to be remembered as the last really popular conflict
0:58:21 > 0:58:23Britain ever fights.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26But as for its place in history,
0:58:26 > 0:58:30it looks to me like a last imperial hurrah.
0:58:32 > 0:58:34# Hallelujah, hallelujah
0:58:34 > 0:58:39# Glorious in His faithfulness. #
0:59:09 > 0:59:11Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd