Unfit for purpose: Reassessing the development and deployment of French nuclear weapons (1956–1974) (2021)
Benoît Pelopidas (Author)
Sébastien Philippe (Author)
Cold War History
Volume: 21
Issue: 3
Pages: 243-260
Edition Details: Special Issue on Nuclear History
Language: English
This article presents the first reassessment of the strategic rationality and credibility of French nuclear weapons policy before 1974. Building on untapped primary material from across the world as well as technical analysis, it shows that early Cold War French nuclear weapon procurement and deployment are incompatible with a precise grand design and the requirements of strategic rationality. The first generation of French nuclear forces also lacked technical credibility, despite reliance on outside help. Several French officials knew about it, as did their allies and adversaries. These findings de-exceptionalise French nuclear history and challenge conventional wisdom about Cold War nuclear history.
...MoreArticle Jayita Sarkar (2021) From the dependable to the demanding partner: The renegotiation of French nuclear cooperation with India, 1974–80. Cold War History (pp. 301-318).
Article Valerie Arnhold (2021) Normalisation of nuclear accidents after the Cold War. Cold War History (pp. 261-281).
Article Anna Konieczna (2021) Nuclear twins: French-South African strategic cooperation (1964–79). Cold War History (pp. 283-300).
Article Matthew Adamson (2021) Nuclear reach: Uranium prospection and the global ambitions of the French nuclear programme, 1945–65. Cold War History (pp. 319-336).
Article Leonardo Bandarra (2021) From Bonn with love: West German interests in the 1975 nuclear agreement with Brazil. Cold War History (pp. 337-355).
Article Pedro Seabra (2021) ‘Despite the special bonds that tie us’: Portugal, Brazil, and the South Atlantic in the late Cold War. Cold War History.
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