‘The European Dream of Franz Josef Strauss’

Heuser, B. (1998) ‘The European Dream of Franz Josef Strauss’. Journal of European Integration History, 3 (1). pp. 75-103. ISSN 0947-9511

Abstract/Summary

Franz Josef Strauss, West German Minister of Atomic Energy and Minister of Defence, pursued a project by which European political integration was to be paralleled by co-operation in the field of nuclear energy and indeed nuclear weapons. It has often been alleged that this covered nationalist German ambitions to turn Germany into a nuclear power in its own rights. Seen in the context of his European integration programme - which foundered on the devotion of French President de Gaulle to French national sovereignty - Strauss' overall policy suggests that he did indeed aim not to obtain nuclear weapons for Germany, but for an integrated European superstate.