ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the development of France’s nuclear deterrent in the context of the Cold War, before examining how the country adapted both its capabilities and doctrine from the 1990s onward. France’s military nuclear program was developed in the greatest secrecy at the Liberation, building on networks created by common experience in the French Resistance. The development of the French independent nuclear deterrent came together with means for autonomous research and manufacturing. The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the broader geopolitical changes that accompanied it led to a revision of France’s nuclear deterrence capabilities and doctrines. France’s nuclear doctrine is expressed and regularly updated by means of a presidential speech, which normally occurs once during a president’s mandate. French nuclear doctrine, policy, and decision-making lie in the hands of the president. The efficiency of French nuclear weapons ensures the credibility of deterrence.
