How France Built an Independent Nuclear Command System During the Cold War

Описание: During the Cold War, France made a deliberate decision to retain complete national control over its nuclear forces, rejecting shared command structures and alliance-based authorization frameworks in favor of a fully independent system centered on presidential authority. This documentary traces how France designed a nuclear command architecture separate from U.S. and UK models, examining the political logic, institutional structures, and communication networks that enabled autonomous decision-making under extreme conditions. Moving chronologically from the postwar origins of strategic autonomy through its consolidation during the Fifth Republic and its endurance into the late Cold War, the film explains how survivability, continuity of command, and sovereign control shaped French nuclear doctrine. By focusing on command authority rather than weapons development or alliance integration, it reveals how France embedded political independence directly into the mechanisms governing nuclear use, creating a deterrent defined by decisiveness and national discretion rather than shared control.
#coldwar #frenchnuclearforces #forcedefrappe #nucleardeterrence #militarycommand #geopolitics #strategicautonomy #nuclearhistory #europeancoldwar #coldwardocumentary