A fairly large number of differences between nations are over borders. These disputes are even more difficult to resolve when the borders are generally unclear, and some disputes are very long lived. One such dispute was between Argentine and Chile over the islands south of the Beagle Channel at the very tip of South America. Argentina felt they were theirs as they faced the Atlantic Ocean while Chile felt differently as they were part of an archipelago of islands that extended into Chilean territory.

There have been other disputes between these two countries of a similar nature on exactly where in the Andes the border ran, but this one came to a head in the late 1970s. Both nations were on the brink of war over the matter and frankly, Argentina had the upper hand in terms of troops, aircraft, ships, and military hardware. Argentina also had military heads who wanted a war as they felt they could win it.

Things became so tense that Argentine and Chilean forces started moving forward to combat each other. However, two situations came into play that caused events to stop short. One was that the weather in the South Atlantic became so bad that it would be impossible to land forces on the disputed islands. The other is that parts of both the Chilean and Argentine government contacted the Vatican about having them arbitrate the dispute before war broke out. As both nations were heavily Roman Catholic, the views of the Vatican held a lot of sway with both and in the end (and several years later) a treaty was signed between the two that was an acceptable compromise.

This book covers the events mentioned above in considerable detail. In fact the author has obviously done his research into various records, especially on the Argentine side of things. This goes as far as recording aircraft codes used by both sides as well as the ships and other units directly involved. One thing about this book that struck me is that it is much more image and map intensive compared to some other books I've read from Helion. Indeed, there are entire pages that are full of photos and the captions of those images, and I like this approach. In line with other books in the series there are the usual full color profiles in the center of the book. I found the book quite easy to read and very interesting. It covers a conflict that is not well known outside of the two nations involved and is a book I know you will enjoy.

May 2024

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