The legacy of World War II and the division of Eastern and Western Europe produced a radical asymmetry, and a variety of misgivings and misunderstandings, in French and German experiences of the nuclear age. At the same time, however, political actors in both nations continually labored to reconcile their differences and engage in productive strategic dialogue. Grounded in cutting-edge research and freshly discovered archival sources,France, Germany, and Nuclear Deterrence teases out the paradoxical nuclear interactions between France and Germany from 1954 to the present day.

Nicolas Badalassi is Associate Professor of Contemporary History at the Institut dEtudes politiques of Aix-en-Provence. His book publications includeThe CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1972-1990 (Berghahn Books, 2019, coedited with Sarah B. Snyder), andReconstructing Europe 45 Years after Yalta: The Charter of Paris (1990) (CTHS, 2020, coedited with Jean-Philippe Dumas).

List of Abbreviations

Introduction
Nicolas Badalassi and Frédéric Gloriant

Part I: From the Beginning of the Franco-German Strategic Dialogue to the Nuclear Ambiguities of the Adenauer/de Gaulle Era

Chapter 1.Raymond Aron, Germany and the Atomic Bomb
Joël Mouric

Chapter 2.France and the Abandoned Dream of a European Bomb, 19541958
Jenny Raflik

Chaper 3.From Bonn to Valhalla? West German Nuclear Ambitions, France, and U.S. Nuclear Assistance, 19601963
Andreas Lutsch

Chapter 4.De Gaulles Nuclear Policy, West Germany and the Second Berlin Crisis: A Historiographical Reappraisal, 19581963
Frédéric Gloriant

Part II: Ostpolitik and the Franco-German Nuclear Relations in the 1970s

Chapter 5.Military Cooperation Is Not in Itself an Instrument of Progress: The Role of the French Nuclear Deterrent in Early Concepts of Ostpolitik
Benedikt Schoenborn

Chapter 6.Implicit Convergence? Franco-German Relations, European Security and Nuclear Cooperation in the Era of Ostpolitik, 19691974
Nicolas Badalassi

Chapter 7.French Deterrence, the Defence of Europe and the German Question, 19751983
Ilaria Parisi

Part III: The Mitterrand/Kohl Era and the End of the Cold War

Chapter 8.Evolution of the French Nuclear Strategy towards Germany during Mitterrands Presidency
Dominique Mongin

Chapter 9.France and the FRG during the 1980s: When Strategic Questions Became Political Debates
Yannick Pincé

Chapter 10.Not a Nuclear Switzerland: Frances Deterrent Posture and the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1980s
Frédéric Bozo

Part IV: Nuclear Uncertainties in the Post-Cold War Era

Chapter 11.France, Germany and Nuclear Deterrence Since the End of the Cold War: From Estrangement to Rapprochement?
Guillaume de Rougé

Chapter 12.Walking Together in Different Directions: Prospects for French-German Cooperation on Nuclear Deterrence and Arms Control after the End of the Cold War
Oliver Meier

Appendix: Figures of the French Nuclear Arsenal and of the U.S. Nuclear Warheads Deployed in NATO-Europe

Index