South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands sovereignty dispute

The South Georgia archipelago was first claimed for Great Britain by James Cook in January 1775, having been previously discovered by Anthony de la Roché.

Following the Argentine claims, the UK offered (in 1947, 1951, 1953 and 1954) to take the matter to the International Court of Justice in The Hague but this was turned down by Argentina.

When the United Kingdom took the issue to the court unilaterally in 1955, Argentina declined to cooperate, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

[citation needed] The British divided the Falkland Islands dependencies in 1962, in accordance with the newly signed Antarctic Treaty.

[10][11][12] The British government responded by sending HMS Endurance with 22 Royal Marines to expel the Argentines, but they were held off to avoid increasing the tension.

Further Argentine troops, led by Lieutenant Alfredo Astiz (known as the "blond angel of death")[13] were landed and the British set up a station to monitor the activities there.

[14] Despite seizing Grytviken and Leith, the Argentines were not able to take the entire island and several British Antarctic Survey field camps remained in the hands of the United Kingdom throughout the length of the war.