The junta needed a distraction from their domestic problems. They thought the British would just give in and they’d be able to sell it as a great victory to the

The junta needed a distraction from their domestic problems. They thought the British would just give in and they’d be able to sell it as a great victory to the public-instead it turned into an immense national humiliation. And once humiliated, can’t let that hurt go, have to dwell on it. The British didn’t actually care that much about the Falklands - the British government had spent most of the 1970s trying to give them to Argentina, but the islanders opposed it, and they stirred up opinion against it in the UK and in Parliament, and the government’s plans were stymied. But when Argentina attacked-if the UK didn’t fight back, it would be open season on all their other territories around the world, including others they were less willing to cede. And the war destroyed all political prospects of the UK public ever agreeing to support a peaceful transfer.