Abstract
The question of modernising NATO’s theatre nuclear weaponry (TNWs) by acquiring and locating in Europe new American medium-range missiles to counter the Soviet M/IRBMs, particularly the new SS-20s, came to a head in the autumn of 1979, concurrent with the approaching ratification of the SALT II Treaty. Although the problem of the credibility of the American nuclear deterrence when extended to the protection of its Allies has existed since the beginning of the 1960s it has intensified with the SALT negotiations and treaties. It was brought to public attention by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in 19771 and by Henry Kissinger in September 1979.2 While SALT II codifies nuclear parity on the strategic level, there exists no such agreement on the theatre level.
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Notes
H. Schmidt, ‘The Alastair Buchan Memorial Lecture’ in Survival, Vol. xx, No. 1 (January/February 1978), pp. 3f.
Kissinger, H., ‘The Future of NATO’. The Washington Quarterly, 2, No. 4 (Autumn 1979), pp. 3–17.
James R. Schlesinger, The Theater Nuclear Force Posture in Europe: A Report to the United States Congress in Compliance with the Public Law 93–365, p. 2 (Washington DC, April 1975).
M. Laird, interview, New York Times (16 April 1972).
Joseph D. Douglas, Jr., ‘Soviet Nuclear Strategy in Europe: A Selective Targeting Doctrine?’, Strategic Review (Fall 1977), pp. 19–32.
General Pierre M. Gallois, ‘Western Europe: An Improper System of Defence’, RUSI Journal for Defence Studies, 124, No. 3 (September 1979,) pp. 12–17.
Jorma K. Miettinen, ‘Mini-nukes and enhanced radiation weapons’ in Tactical Nuclear Weapons: European Perspectives (SIPRI, Taylor and Francis, London 1978), pp. 223–46.
Miettinen, J. K., ‘Can conventional new technologies and new tactics replace tactical nuclear weapons in Europe’ in Arms Control and Technological Innovation, David Carlton and Carlo Schaerf (eds) (Croom Helm, London, 1977), pp. 52–69.
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© 1982 William Gutteridge
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Miettinen, J.K. (1982). Theatre Nuclear Weapons in Europe. In: Gutteridge, W. (eds) European Security, Nuclear Weapons and Public Confidence. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05908-9_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05908-9_9
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