Thatcher and Europe

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  • Thatcher and the Empire
    • Rhodesian Crisis 1979
      • Ruled by illegal white minority - Ian Smith
      • Robert Mugabe - Marxist, uses violence to attain power
      • Thatcher = suspicious of Mugabe, sympathised  with Smith
        • Cautious approach angers Commonwealth
          • Uses Commonwealth meeting and Queen to come to a solution - hand Rhodesia to Mugabe.
            • Solution angers right wing members of her party
    • Falklands Conflict
      • Set of islands 7000 miles from Britain
      • Argentina had aspirations to take the islands
      • 1981 = military coup, Galteiri becomes leader. Invades Falklands April 1982.
        • Thatcher sends task force - ignores the diplomatic solution which the US desire.
          • Cost £2.7 billion in times of domestic austerity = not worthwhile?
        • Casualties - sinking of HMS Sheffield. May 21st British forces land.
          • Argentinean forces surrender 14th June.
            • Thatcher = more popular. Re-elected 1983.
            • Regain's British prestige and world power status
            • US support = beneficial
        • Failure to foresee the conflict.
    • Hong Kong 1983
      • 1983 Hong Kong reclassified as a dependent territory
        • Britain's lease to expire within 20 years
        • 1984 - Anglo-Chinese agreement = transfer Hong Kong to People's Republic of China in 1997.
          • Thatcher gains concessions - promise of high degree of autonomy for at least 50 yrs.
            • Made most of an impossible situation.
            • Coul've retained control of her richest colony for longer - but handed it over to Communism despite anti-communist beliefs.
    • Commonwealth
      • Strained relationship over apartheid regime in South Africa
        • Commonwealth want Britain to impose economic sanctions. Thatcher refuses.
          • 1984 - Commonwealth threaten breakup at Nassau
            • Thatcher imposes limited sanctions - her actions damaged Britain's standing in the Commonwealth
        • Thatcher opposed regime but thought sanctions would affect poor African workers.
        • Thatcher convinced S. Africa  to release nationalist leader Nelson Mandela
  • Uses Commonwealth meeting and Queen to come to a solution - hand Rhodesia to Mugabe.
    • Solution angers right wing members of her party

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