Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat
This article investigates Fallex 66, the first of a string of NATO war games that the West German government played in its command bunker between 1966 and 1989. During this exercise, the Bonn Republic simulated nuclear strikes on its ‘own’ targets and the resupply of NATO forces after a nuclear war...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Wiley
2016
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| _version_ | 1797073647130640384 |
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| author | Klinke, I |
| author_facet | Klinke, I |
| author_sort | Klinke, I |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | This article investigates Fallex 66, the first of a string of NATO war games that the West German government played in its command bunker between 1966 and 1989. During this exercise, the Bonn Republic simulated nuclear strikes on its ‘own’ targets and the resupply of NATO forces after a nuclear war on German territory. While in line with West German deterrence at the time, Fallex was read in East Berlin as an excessive game of playful self‐annihilation in ways that invite a psychoanalytic interpretation. This article explores Fallex 66 not simply as an enactment of Cold War deterrence, but a Freudian ‘fort–da’ game, a traumatic re‐enactment that was tellingly set in the subterranean space of a German bunker. West Germany's compulsion to self‐abandon, I suggest, has important implications for how we understand the nature of geopolitical games. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:25:03Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:6a125735-0c22-48da-b2d0-ab2ca9aa3e41 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T23:25:03Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:6a125735-0c22-48da-b2d0-ab2ca9aa3e412022-03-26T18:55:06ZSelf‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeatJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:6a125735-0c22-48da-b2d0-ab2ca9aa3e41Symplectic Elements at OxfordWiley2016Klinke, IThis article investigates Fallex 66, the first of a string of NATO war games that the West German government played in its command bunker between 1966 and 1989. During this exercise, the Bonn Republic simulated nuclear strikes on its ‘own’ targets and the resupply of NATO forces after a nuclear war on German territory. While in line with West German deterrence at the time, Fallex was read in East Berlin as an excessive game of playful self‐annihilation in ways that invite a psychoanalytic interpretation. This article explores Fallex 66 not simply as an enactment of Cold War deterrence, but a Freudian ‘fort–da’ game, a traumatic re‐enactment that was tellingly set in the subterranean space of a German bunker. West Germany's compulsion to self‐abandon, I suggest, has important implications for how we understand the nature of geopolitical games. |
| spellingShingle | Klinke, I Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat |
| title | Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat |
| title_full | Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat |
| title_fullStr | Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat |
| title_full_unstemmed | Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat |
| title_short | Self‐annihilation, nuclear play and West Germany's compulsion to repeat |
| title_sort | self annihilation nuclear play and west germany s compulsion to repeat |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT klinkei selfannihilationnuclearplayandwestgermanyscompulsiontorepeat |