After an eight-year stretch of democratic rule (from 1958 to 1966), Argentina reverted once again to dictatorship. In 1973, with Perón's brief restoration to power (he died the following year), the government launched its "Dirty War" against leftists, which continued under the succeeding military junta and resulted in up to 30,000 disappearances. Although official terror stanched street violence, the economy continued to decline under the generals. In 1982 in a desperate nationalist bid for popular support, the regime occupied the British-held Falkland Islands. Britain won the resulting Falklands War within two months, discrediting the Argentine military, which ceded control to the democratically elected Raúl Alfonsín in October 1983.
Photo: Hulton Archive
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Leaders of Argentina in 1980, celebrating the 170th anniversary of the national revolution
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