1964–84: From MLF to INF

Abstract

During the two decades covered in this chapter, the United States government began to think more in terms of European relations than in terms of Anglo-American relations. This reflected an American belief that the European defence effort within NATO needed to be highly co-ordinated. The Multilateral Force (MLF) which establishes the start of this period, and the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) which ends it, were both attempts by the United States to unify NATO’s European defence effort. The common problem that both the MLF and INF were designed to address was West Germany, which occupied the unenviable position of non-nuclear status in the front line. Whilst the INF was a later attempt to solve this precarious position, by deploying land-bases missiles in Europe, the earlier MLF proposals did at least have the benefit of being sea-borne. The 1960s and 1970s were also important for arms-control negotiations, when many of the US forces in Europe were put onto the bargaining table.