The Euromissile Crisis and the End of the Cold War

In the late 1970s, new generations of nuclear missile delivery systems were proposed for deployment across Eastern and Western Europe. The ensuing controversy over their deployment grew into a key phase in the later years of the Cold War. The Euromissile Crisis and the End of the Cold War explores the origins, unfolding, and consequences of that crisis. Contributors from international relations, political science, sociology, and history draw on extensive research in a number of countries, employing declassified documents from the West and from the newly opened state and party archives of many Soviet bloc countries. Chapters examine the crisis in relation to the superpowers, NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and the role of worldwide public opinion, among other topics.

Leopoldo Nuti is professor of history of international relations and coordinator of the doctoral program in political studies at Roma Tre University. Frédéric Bozo is a professor of contemporary history in the Department of European Studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (University of Paris III). Marie-Pierre Rey is a professor of Russian and Soviet history and director of the Slavic Research Center, University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Bernd Rother is a researcher and deputy managing director of the Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation.

Acknowledgments

Editors’ Introduction

Part I: A General Survey
1. The Dynamics of the Euromissile Crisis, 1977–1983
David Holloway

Part II: The View from the East
2. Moscow’s Misjudgment in Deploying SS-20 Missiles
Jonathan Haslam
3. “Not Crying Wolf”: Soviet Intelligence and the 1983 War Scare
Dmitry Adamsky
4. Gorbachev and the Decision to Decouple the Arms Control Package: How the Breakdown of the Reykjavik Summit Led to the Elimination of the Euromissiles
Elizabeth C. Charles
5. Learning to Disarm: Mikhail Gorbachev’s Interactive Learning and Changes in the Soviet Negotiating Positions Leading to the INF Treaty
Svetlana Savranskaya
6. The Warsaw Pact and the Euromissile Crisis, 1977–1983
Malcolm Byrne

Part III: The View from the West
7. A Question of Confidence: Theater Nuclear Forces, US Policy toward Germany, and the Origins of the Euromissile Crisis, 1975–1976
William Burr
8. NATO’s Nuclear Politics and the Schmidt-Carter Rift
Kristina Spohr
9. The Euromissile Crisis and the Centrality of the “Zero Option”
Marilena Gala
10. Creating the “Seamless Robe of Deterrence”: Great Britain’s Role in NATO’s INF Debate
Kristan Stoddart
11. France, the Euromissiles, and the End of the Cold War
Frédéric Bozo
12. Norway and the Dual-Track Decision: The Role of Johan Jørgen Holst
Helge Danielsen
13. The Nuclear Debate in Italian Politics in the Late 1970s and the Early 1980s
Leopoldo Nuti
14. The Netherlands between East and West: Dutch Politics, Dual Track, and Cruise Missiles
Giles Scott-Smith

Part IV: Civil Society, Public Opinion, and the Battle of Ideas
15. Public Opinion and the Euromissile Crisis
Maria Eleonora Guasconi
16. Peace or Solidarity? Poland, the Euromissile Crisis, and the 1980s Peace Movement
Idesbald Goddeeris and Małgorzata Świder
17. The Last Battle of the Cold War: Peace Movements and German Politics in the 1980s
Holger Nehring
18. Family Row: The Dual-Track Decision and Its Consequences for European Social Democratic Cooperation
Bernd Rother
19. The Euromissile Crisis, the Palme Commission, and the Search for a New Security Model
Wolfgang Schmidt

“The volume significantly deepens understanding of the origins and consequences, both political and social, of the Euromissile affair. Moreover, the book successfully places these events within the broader context of the Cold War and the evolution of the international system. As such, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the diplomatic and social politics of the Cold War during this period.”—Suzanne Doyle, European History Quarterly

“This book fills a gaping hole in the literature by providing a detailed account of the Euromissile crisis, which decisively shaped European and American politics for nearly a decade. It is at the cutting edge of historical research on the Cold War, relying on new and declassified documents from a wide array of countries and sources. It also offers a comprehensive and ambitious description of the Euromissile crisis. Not only does it cover a variety of national perspectives, but it also delves into the role of individuals, social movements, and public opinion.”—Garret Martin, American University