Beirut before Berlin? France and the challenge of the Mediterranean's early exit from the Cold War, 1979–1985

The early 1980s saw a weakening of Soviet influence in the Mediterranean. While its invasion of Afghanistan discredited it in the eyes of Muslim peoples, the USSR gradually lost its grip on the region as southern Europe became definitively anchored in the Western world and, above all, as a result of the war in Lebanon. This chapter shows the extent to which France participated directly in this attempt to discredit the USSR by intervening directly in Beirut, alongside the United States and Italy, to save the Palestinian leaders, who had until then been protected by Moscow. Within a few years, the French managed to convince themselves that the Cold War in the Mediterranean was over, even before Mikhail Gorbachev came to power.