nuclear free

Nuclear-free New Zealand

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  The sinking of the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland in July 1985 shocked the nation. The incident galvanised an anti-nuclear movement that had emerged in opposition to both French nuclear tests at Mururoa and American warship visits to New Zealand. 

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• Page 2 – Nuclear testing in the Pacific

  After the Second World War the United States, along with its French and British allies, frequently tested nuclear weapons in the Pacific region.

• Page 3 – Ship visits

  The visit of the nuclear-powered frigate USS Texas in 1983 sparked protest in New Zealand.

• Page 4 – Nuclear-free legislation

  Labour leader David Lange tried to work with the Americans, but their 'neither confirm nor deny' policy made a middle ground virtually impossible to find.

• Page 5 – Sinking the Rainbow Warrior

  In 1985 New Zealand was basking in its position as leader of the anti-nuclear movement. Then on 10 July, two explosions set by French Secret Service agents ripped through the

• Page 6 – Further information

  This web feature was written by Steve Watters and produced by the NZHistory team.LinksSpeech on the 30th anniversary of the New Zealand government sending protest frigates to

The Cold War

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  Although the origins of the so-called Cold War can be traced back to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, this intense ideological struggle between the Western powers and the Soviet Union really began after the Second World War.

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• Page 6 – Protest and dissent

  The end of the Vietnam War shifted the focus of the Cold War away from Asia and New Zealand's need for ‘forward defence’ diminished. These changes, together with the anti-

• Page 7 – Last decade

  Soviet-American tensions revived in the late 1970s as ‘détente’ (co-operation) gave way to a renewed arms race.

• This case study examines New Zealand's involvement in the nuclear debate of the 1970s and 1980s, culminating in a breakdown of the ANZUS alliance in 1985. With

The Royal New Zealand Navy

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  Seventy years old in October 2011, the Royal New Zealand Navy is today an integral part of the New Zealand Defence Force. But its 1941 establishment was the result of a long process of naval development.

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• Page 7 – New directions

  The RNZN’s independence as a service came to an end when the Ministry of Defence (created in July 1963) was reconstituted to incorporate all three armed services on 1 January