French Nuclear Deterrence in Action - Dictionary of a National Narrative

French deterrence merges with the strategy for which it was designed: to keep, in sovereignty, any major war far from national territory.

This mission has been unchanged since France's first nuclear test in 1960. The impetus had been given by General de Gaulle as early as 1945, but this ambition could not have been realised without the mobilisation of a broad community of knowledge, transcending political sensitivities. Diplomacy, political action, military operations, armaments programmes, technologies to be mastered, espionage, media actions and public debates — the French nuclear deterrent is a genuine epic that this book invites the reader to discover through two hundred extensively illustrated entries.

Developed in the land of the Enlightenment and the Rights of Man, France's nuclear ambition takes on its full meaning and joins our national narrative. This French nuclear strike force, built by those who lived through the darkest hours of our contemporary history, draws its legitimacy from the international treaties signed by France. As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, our country fully assumes its responsibilities.

In a durably nuclear world, the French concept of deterrence is a strategy for the future and for peace.