The London Victory Parade of 1982 was a British victory parade held after the defeat of Argentina in the Falklands War and organised by the City of London as a salute to the task force.[1][2] It took place in the United Kingdom capital of London, mainly encompassing a military parade with military bands through the City of London. The parade took place on 12 October 1982, almost four months after the Argentine surrender; it was the first time the City had celebrated a military event since it had entertained the crew of HMS Amethyst in 1949.[1]
The Parade began at Armoury House, off City Road near Finsbury Square and progressed via Finsbury pavement, Moorgate, Lothbury, Bartholomew Lane and Threadneedle Street past Mansion House, then continued along Poultry, Cheapside and King Street to Guildhall.[3] Approximately 300,000 people lined the mile-long route of the parade.[4] At Mansion House the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Christopher Leaver took the salute from the armed forces personnel as they marched past.[2][3] He was accompanied by Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher, Admiral Sir Terence Lewin, and the Chief of the Defence Staff, Field Marshal Sir Edwin Bramall.[citation needed]
During the parade, there were several protests by peace campaigners opposed to the Falklands War and what they regarded as the militarism of the parade.[5] Seventeen people were arrested while trying to block a road to stop the parade. One of them was reportedly knocked unconscious when being thrown into the back of a police van.[6] A group of women from the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp staged a protest that involved turning their backs on the parade as it marched past.[7]
After the parade there was a Salute to the Task Force luncheon at the Guildhall in which Thatcher gave a speech, saying:
We, the British people, are proud of what has been done, proud of these heroic pages in our island story, proud to be here today to salute the task force. Proud to be British.[8]
Notes
1 2 "City gives marching orders for Falklands parade". News. The Times. No.61348. London. 28 September 1982. col D, p.3.
1 2 "Falklands victory parade". The Times (London, England), September 2, 1982, Issue 61327, column A page 2.
1 2 "Falkland Parade". The Times 12 October 1982 column C page 28.
↑ Klaud Dodds, Pink Ice: Britain and the South Atlantic Empire (I B Tauris, 2002), p. 174.
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
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Corbeta Uruguay base was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on Thule Island, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. It was vacated and mostly demolished in 1982 following Britain's victory against Argentina in the Falklands War.
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Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp was a series of protest camps established to protest against nuclear weapons being placed at RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire, England. The camp began in September 1981 after a Welsh group, Women for Life on Earth, arrived at Greenham to protest against the decision of the British government to allow cruise missiles to be stored there. After realising that the march alone was not going to get them the attention that they needed to have the missiles removed, women began to stay at Greenham to continue their protest. The first blockade of the base occurred in March 1982 with 250 women protesting, during which 34 arrests and one death occurred. The camp was active for 19 years and disbanded in 2000.
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There were many events leading to the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina over possession of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.
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The aftermath of the 1982 Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina saw an impact upon world geopolitics, the local political culture in Argentina and the UK, military thought, medical treatment, and the lives of those who were directly involved in the war.
Sir Anthony Derrick Parsons was a British diplomat, ambassador to Iran at the time of the Iranian Revolution and Permanent Representative to the UN at the time of the Falklands War.
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