Over and above the Falklands issue, which can be debated ad nauseum, the British invasions of 1806 and 1807 have always fascinated me. Beresford was ill equipped and badly prepared and in 1807, Whitelocke was the wrong man in the right place and was a yellow coward.
The real man on the spot was Robert Crawfurd who had fought with Wellington in the Peninsula Wars and could quite easily have taken Buenos Aires if not for the cowardice of Whitelocke who refused Crawfurds strategic demands, resulting in one of the most embarrassing defeats in British military history.
This is not well known, but has been written about in several journals. Whitelocke was subsequently court marshalled as a result.
This led me to write a novel, loosely based on these facts, not least wondering in the reign of Queen Cristina, what would it be like if I, a Brit, were to be president of Argentina. Twenty years of BA living does that to you!
This was born The Last British President, my novel set in Buenos Aires where I finally become king.
Sorry for the unabashed promo and I hope you take it in good heart. I'm not president yet, but the current one is at least providing an opening, as it were.
Your description of the history of the Falklands in the early 19th century is fairly slanted, to the point of being Argentine propaganda. The recently settled Argentinians on the islands in 1833 were around 40 in number, and about 24 voluntarily remained after the British occupation. The islands had been disputed between France, Spain and Britain for decades with permanent continuous settlement only from the 1830's. "Islas Malvinas" is actually a Spanish translation of the French name.
Over and above the Falklands issue, which can be debated ad nauseum, the British invasions of 1806 and 1807 have always fascinated me. Beresford was ill equipped and badly prepared and in 1807, Whitelocke was the wrong man in the right place and was a yellow coward.
The real man on the spot was Robert Crawfurd who had fought with Wellington in the Peninsula Wars and could quite easily have taken Buenos Aires if not for the cowardice of Whitelocke who refused Crawfurds strategic demands, resulting in one of the most embarrassing defeats in British military history.
This is not well known, but has been written about in several journals. Whitelocke was subsequently court marshalled as a result.
This led me to write a novel, loosely based on these facts, not least wondering in the reign of Queen Cristina, what would it be like if I, a Brit, were to be president of Argentina. Twenty years of BA living does that to you!
This was born The Last British President, my novel set in Buenos Aires where I finally become king.
Sorry for the unabashed promo and I hope you take it in good heart. I'm not president yet, but the current one is at least providing an opening, as it were.
Cheers!
Thank you for this - most informative.
Christ; I hadn't realised we were responsible for the central bank!
Thanks @bowtiedmara. Always learning something new about Argentina from you. Great stuff as usual.
Good piece of history. Enjoyed that one
Wasn't the Falklands conflict the one where they learned building ships out of aluminum was bad because they would catch fire and burn?
Your description of the history of the Falklands in the early 19th century is fairly slanted, to the point of being Argentine propaganda. The recently settled Argentinians on the islands in 1833 were around 40 in number, and about 24 voluntarily remained after the British occupation. The islands had been disputed between France, Spain and Britain for decades with permanent continuous settlement only from the 1830's. "Islas Malvinas" is actually a Spanish translation of the French name.