In 1954, France took the decision to become an independent nuclear power, both to try to regain some lost international prestige following WWII, but also to challenge the French industrial base after the ruin of WWII. They succeeded in testing their first bomb, codename Gerboise Bleue in 1960, becoming the fourth nuclear power after the US, USSR, and the UK.

This catchily-subtitled tome by the noted authority on French nuclear programmes, Philippe Wodka-Gallien, is a 94-page soft-bound book containing 108 colour & 58 b/w photos, 20 colour profiles, and 3 colour & 1 b/w maps; It is the latest in Helion’s Europe@War series that examines conflict in Europe from the early twentieth century up to the present day beyond the scope of the two world wars, often lesser-known subjects that deserve a wider audience than hitherto given.

In this 32^nd volume in the series, Wodka-Gallien outlines the development of the French nuclear weapons programme, including the first above ground tests in Algeria and subsequently in the remote Pacific atolls of French Polynesia, and the build-up of the French Triad of air-launched missiles, at first from the Dassault Mirage IV; the ground-based missiles in the Vaucluse region; and the development of the original Redoutable Class and now Triomphant Class submarine-based systems that are now the major component of the French nuclear deterrent. He goes into painstaking detail and is obviously very knowledgeable about this topic; this does lead to some rather heavy and technical reading at times, and it is also obvious that English isn’t his first language as there is occasional odd turn of phrase.

Of course, France was and is a relatively small nation compared to the Superpowers, especially the accepted ‘enemy,’ the Soviet Union and now Russia. Her small but capable nuclear forces have been, in the words of the author, “a deterrence of the strong by the weak,” nevertheless, even today, the force remains a limited but credible dissuasive element of French defense. The nuclear programme can also be seen as part of an effort to modernize and transform the French technological base and expand its industrial enterprises.

Wodka-Gallien’s book is a useful primer on the subject and is recommended for students of Cold War history; I look forward to the promised Volume II. My thanks to the good folks at Casemate for the review sample.