Beginning with the escalation of violence in the South Atlantic in early May, Chapter 4 shows how this Greater British dimension was joined and largely overwhelmed by another memory of empire, triggering a conception of the war as an imperial throwback among advocates and opponents alike. Stressing the role of collective memory in influencing decisions and opinions, this chapter thus makes a case as to why this story became shrouded in a generalised perspective of ‘dominating imperialism’ and explores how a post-imperial perspective might shed further light on the British response to the crisis.