The next 17 years saw tortuous diplomatic negotiations as successive governments and negotiators on both sides sought to seek a compromise that suited the Argentinesm the British and, most critically of all, the Falkland Islanders. The island economy was tiny and could not even cover the costs of the 40 man Royal Marine garrison (NP8901) that had been stationed there since 1966.ฤก965 saw a United Nations resolution passed which requested that Britain and Argentina negotiate a solution to the sovereignty question with a view to finding a peaceful resolution to the problem. In fact, they did not even have an airport until the 1970s (and that was constructed by the Argentinians). The strategic necessity for naval bases scattered across the globe was no longer effective and the islands had no dockyard or repair facilities. The British did indeed seem to wish to shake off their responsibility for the islands and the 1,800 settlers (almost all of British stock) who lived there. However in a period of post-war decolonisation, the Argentinians expected and hoped that British interest in the South Atlantic would fade and sovereignty of the islands would be handed in their direction. It was always hoped that the chain would provide a useful base for the Royal Navy, which indeed proved to be the case in the First and Second World Wars. See the Falkland Island entry for details of the early history of this archipelago. The ownership of the Falkland Islands has been in dispute since the 18th Century and even before that. In many ways, this was the last example of old-style gunboat diplomacy and certainly the last imperial war. 1982 saw one of the strangest conflicts in imperial history as Britain found itself forced to come to the rescue of 1,800 subjects who were invaded and occupied by a major South American nation.
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