Interview with Gerd Schmuckle, 1986

Item Information

Title:
Interview with Gerd Schmuckle, 1986
Description:
General Gerd Schmuckle served in the Federal Republic of Germany's Ministry of Defense from 1956 to 1962 under defense minister Franz Josef Strauss. Strauss was charged with building up the Bundeswehr, the newly formed federal armed forces. In the interview he conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: "The Education of Robert McNamara," Schmuckle describes Germany's reaction to the U.S. doctrine of massive retaliation, which de-emphasized a conventional buildup—one that Germans advocated—and depended on thousands of nuclear warheads deployed on German soil. When French president Charles de Gaulle returned to power in 1958, his main concern—developing an independent national deterrent—halted a preliminary treaty for Franco-German nuclear cooperation. Germany had little choice but to acquiesce to deterrence as formulated by the United States. Schmuckle elaborates on these and other topics. In building up the Bundeswehr, Strauss pushed to have some voice in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) decision-making, worked to overcome European mistrust of a rearmed Germany, and fought to regain its stature in Europe. Unsure whether exclusive reliance on a U.S. nuclear deterrent would be sustainable in the long term, Schmuckle recaps Germany's efforts to build a pan-European defense force—a proposal that failed to gain traction. He also supported NATO general Lauris Norstad's proposal that NATO become a fourth nuclear power. However, Britain's 1957 white paper "Defense: Outline of Future Policy" announced the island's intent to build an independent nuclear deterrent and reduce troop levels in Germany, which quashed the notion of NATO as a major nuclear power. The following year, de Gaulle proclaimed developing an independent nuclear force his government's highest priority. As a result, Schmuckle explains, Germans haven't significantly influenced the stationing of nuclear warheads and NATO decision-making. He recalls opposing U.S. secretary of defense Robert McNamara's theories of escalating warfare and preemptive strikes, and he protested against a dramatic increase in conventional forces, which he regarded as totally unrealistic. In the age of nuclear weapons, Schmuckle asserts, "war does not make any sense any longer in Europe."
Interviewee:
Schmuckle, Gerd, 1917-
Date:
November 1, 1986
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
WGBH
Collection (local):
WGBH Open Vault
Series:
War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
Subjects:
German rearmament
Soviet Union
Rand Corporation
Flexible response (Nuclear strategy)
Reagan, Ronald
Nuclear arms control
Warfare, Conventional
Nuclear weapons
International relations
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Nuclear warfare
Gorbachev, Mikhail
Massive retaliation (Nuclear strategy)
Deterrence (Strategy)
McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
Adenauer, Konrad, 1876-1967
Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965
Norstad, Lauris, 1907-1988
Strauss, Franz Josef, 1915-1988
Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953
Schmidt, Helmut, 1918 Dec. 23-
Gaulle, Charles de, 1890-1970
Places:
Italy
Germany
France
United States
Extent:
01:05:13:25
Link to Item:
https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_5E551BD3292D437790DDF1CC30560952
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Publisher:
WGBH Educational Foundation
Identifier:
V_5E551BD3292D437790DDF1CC30560952