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| 1954 | Mendes-France, Pierre |  |
| Paris Secretly initiates a secret programme to develop French nuclear weapons |
| 1960 | Gaulle, Charles Andre Marie Joseph de | |
| 13th Feb France explodes its first atomic bomb in the Sahara desert, it has a yield of 60-70 kilotons |
| 1963 | Gaulle, Charles Andre Marie Joseph de | |
| Paris Rejects USAoffer of Polaris missiles & a 3 country nuclear pact with USA & Britain |
| 1968 | Gaulle, Charles Andre Marie Joseph de | |
| 25th Aug France explodes a hydrogen in the Sth Pacific & becomes the 5th nuclear power |
| 1973 | Mesmer, Pierre | |
| 9th May Australia and NewZealand institute proceedings in the International Court of Justice against French atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the South Pacific |
| 22nd June The International Court of Justice, at the request of Australia and NewZealand, states that France should avoid nuclear tests causing radioactive fall-out in the South Pacific |
| 1974 | Giscard d'Estang, Valery | |
| 17th July Muruora France performs nuclear tests at Muruora Island |
| 1995 | Chirac, Jacques | |
| 5th Sep Mururoa Atoll France conducts nuclear tests beneath atolls southeast of Tahiti in French Polynesia, breaking a 1992 test moratorium despite worldwide protests from environmentalists |
| 5th Sep Mururoa Atoll Resumes nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia |
| 1996 | Chirac, Jacques | |
| 31st Jan Fangataufa Atoll France carries out a nuclear test equivalent to approximately 120,000 tonnes of conventional explosives, six times the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima |
| 1st Feb Chirac announces an end to nuclear tests, accedes to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty |
