Un territoire de la dissuasion nucléaire: le plateau d’Albion

Université d’Avignon, centre N. Elias (UMR CNRS 8562), 84029 Avignon cédex 1, France

^* Corresponding author: frederic.monier@univ-avignon.fr
^† Film consultable sur le site de l’Institut national de l’audiovisuel : http://fresques.ina.fr/reperes-mediterraneens/fiche-media/Repmed00519/la-fin-desmissilesnucleaires-du-plateau-d-albion.html

Abstract

A territory for nuclear deterrence: high plains of Albion. This presentation studies the social silence surrounding recent French history, in the cold war period. The case study concerns social and political perceptions of the former strategic missile base located in Albion, active from 1970 to 1996, and then dismantled. The decision to create the missile base in this French heartland was taken by the Gaullist power in Paris in 1965, without considering local expectations. This arouse strong national and local conflicts, both political and cultural, in the 1960’s, between supporters of the militarization and its opponents. Nuclear missiles were not welcome by all: anxiety and new popular culturesuch as rumours about UFO’stestify for the entering in a new age. Was there a real patriotic consent to cold war? Resignation and fatalistic attitudes seem to have prevailed. Since the late 2000’s, i.e. twenty years after the demilitarization of Albion, some former servicemen still denounce the activities linked to nuclear missiles as responsible for radioactive contamination and persistent diseases. This history, not investigated nor written yet, should highlight the reluctant and ambivalent attitudes of the French society when entering nuclear age.