Political violence in Argentina during the 1970s

The topic of this thesis is a historical study of selected controversial topics within the broader phenomenon of political violence in Argentina during the decade of the 1970s. A historical background from 1930 until 1969 (of the events and political problems in Argentina) which prompted the formation of armed guerrilla movements in order to create political change, is outlined in the first chapter. The growth of the guerrilla movements and the evolution of their respective political ideologies during the years 1970-75 are discussed in the second chapter, which also discusses the relative success of the guerrillas in their armed actions; The third chapter examines the most debated aspects of political violence in Argentina during the 1970s: the legitimacy of the Argentine military\u27s illegal and covert crackdown on subversion in the second half of the decade (1975-79). Whether the military\u27s campaign was a random attack against any opposition to the military government, which came to power in March of 1976, or a necessary, publicly supported form of bringing peace back to a country seemingly on the verge of anarchy. Although no definite conclusion can be drawn upon these issues, I raise various estimates and critique each group\u27s methodology; This paper relies heavily on primary sources such as personal interviews and official documents as well as the latest published revelations on the topics which I compiled during my nine month stay in Argentina (January until September, 1995), in order to give a first hand, non-biased perspective on the topic. The conclusion, however, is based partly on my personal observations on the issue of the military\u27s brutal campaign