Gli apprendisti stregoni. Gli esperimenti nucleari francesi nel Sahara algerino (1960-1966)

Much as been written and discussed about the birth and development of the French nuclear force of deterrence (the so-called Force de Frappe) but very few studies are dedicated to the 17 nuclear atmospheric and underground experiments conducted by the Fifth French Republic from 1961 to 1966 in the Algerian Sahara, that led France in the inner circle of the nuclear powers. this article will focus on the reason why the French military and political establishment decided to use the Algerian Sahara as a nuclear test site, while the Algerian war of independence was still going on, and to the human and enviromental legacy of such experiments that were carried out mostly with amateurish security measures and sometimes even using soldiers as unaware guinea-pigs.