Changes

====Northern Ireland and Thatcher’s foreign affairs====

In 1984, Thatcher narrowly escaped a fatal injury in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) assassination attempt in Brighton. The organized terrorist bombing at her Conservative Party conference nearly killed Thatcher and several senior members of her government. However, she was reluctant to leave and steadily refused to reschedule the meeting as advised by her security officials. Instead, Thatcher passionately delivered her speech as planned the following day. That act of bravery was widely welcomed and supported across the political spectrum and enhanced her even greater popularity with the public.

Despite all, the defining moment in Thatcher’s premiership was the Falklands war, started on 2 April 1982 when Argentina tried to invade the British-controlled Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Thatcher set up and chaired a small War Cabinet to take charge of the war conflict. She did not hesitate to dispatch a naval task force to retake the islands, as well as to authorize a controversial sink of Argentina’s cruiser “General Belgrano”, though it did not represent a direct threat. Argentina surrendered on 14 June and the operation was called a great success. The opposition criticized Thatcher soon after for the neglect of the Falklands’ defense that led to the war and especially for the decision to sink Argentina’s cruiser. Nevertheless, backed up by the British propaganda, the case and investigation were soon closed, and Thatcher remained generally recognized as a highly capable and committed war leader nationwide. The decisive win in the Falklands war, an economic recovery beginning in early 1982, and a bitterly divided opposition all contributed to Thatcher’s second election victory in 1983.