CHRONOLOGY
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CHRONOLOGY
In brief
THE COLD WAR (1940s to late 1980s)
Thatcher and Reagan
Protect and Survive
CRUISE MISSILES IN EUROPE (1979 – 1980)
Decision to site Cruise missiles in Europe
Nuclear missiles destined for Greenham Common
PROTEST AT GREENHAM (1981 – 1983)
March to Greenham
Peace camp becomes women only
Blockades
Evictions
Embrace the Base
Dancing on the missile silos
Using the courts
Coordinating actions across the country and abroad
THE MISSILES ARE COMING (1983)
Heseltine says ‘shoot’
Greenham Women vs. President Reagan
THE MISSILES ARE HERE (1983)
Cruise arrive at Greenham
Reflect the Base
Occupying the air traffic control tower
BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN (1984 – 1985)
Mass evictions
Cruisewatch is formed
Other military bases
A SEA CHANGE (1985 – 1987)
Gorbachev elected
Chernobyl disaster
Détente
Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF Treaty
CRUISE MISSILES LEAVE GREENHAM (1989 – 2000)
The first Cruise missiles leave Greenham
United States Air Force leave Greenham
Perimeter fence is demolished
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CHRONOLOGY
THE COLD WAR (1940 – late 1980s)
The Cold War
During the Cold War the world was divided into two factions, the United States and its allies and the
Soviet bloc. The two world ‘super powers’ engaged in a colossal arms race. Each side claimed that
the presence of nuclear weapons would act as a deterrent to the other, but many feared that, by accident or design, the conflict would escalate into a nuclear war with hundreds of millions killed.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (elected 1979)
and American President Ronald Reagan (elected 1981)
embarked on an anti-Soviet crusade, enforced by a nuclear programme. During the first three years
of his presidency, Reagan increased defence spending by 40% in a conscious attempt to drive the
Soviet Union into economic bankruptcy through the arms race.
In the late 1970s, the British government published a series of booklets and public information films
to inform the British public of how to protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack. A copy of
the main ‘Protect and Survive’ booklet was distributed to every home in the UK and the films were
broadcast on the BBC.
Far from reassuring the public, it ignited immediate protest. Suddenly thousands of people could see
themselves not only as potential victims, but also as potential agents of nuclear war. The booklets
were ridiculed by anti-nuclear campaigners who organised around the slogan “Protest and Survive”.
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CHRONOLOGY
CRUISE MISSILES IN EUROPE (1979 - 1980)
Decision to site Cruise missiles in Europe
In December 1979 Nato announced that, in response to the Soviet’s stockpiling of their nuclear weapons, Cruise missiles would be sited in Europe. Since Cruise missiles were designed to be ‘first-strike’
weapons, this was a clear sign that the US nuclear doctrine of deterrence had shifted to one aiming to
fight, and win, a nuclear war. In response, the Soviet Union withdrew its offer to negotiate.
Government announce that RAF base at Greenham Common will
house nuclear missiles
In July 1980 Secretary of State for Defence Francis Pym told the House of Commons that a total of
160 Cruise missiles would be located at RAF Greenham Common, Berkshire, as well as the disused
RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. The UK would contribute 220 personnel to help guard the bases
and the cost to the country would be £16m. There was no public debate.
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CHRONOLOGY
PROTEST AT GREENHAM (1981-1983)
March to Greenham
On 27 August 1981 a women-lead group called ‘Women for Life on Earth’ left Cardiff to walk to Greenham Common, demanding a televised debate on nuclear weapons. 36 women, four men and several
children walked 120 miles; it took them ten days.
The modest peace march was largely ignored by the media, so, on arrival at the base, some of the
women chained themselves to the gate in attempt to generate publicity. None of the marchers had
intended to stay, but several women decided to remain at the base until their dissent had been acknowledged.
The women eventually acquired tents, bedding and cooking utensils. A permanent peace camp was
assembled.
In the decade that followed, the women did hundreds upon thousands of actions in order to keep the
nuclear issue at the forefront of the public’s imagination. Their actions generated thousands of newspaper headlines – from symbolic individual gestures like hanging baby boots on the perimeter fence,
to huge coordinated actions involving millions of women worldwide – the protests of the women of
Greenham forced the nuclear debate into political discourse.
Peace camp becomes women only
In February 1982 it was decided that the protest should involve women only. Although this policy
would be continually debated, the argument was persuasive – the women only nature of the peace
camp gave women space to express their beliefs and assert their politics in their own names and traditions without the customary dominance of men.
Many women considered the notion that men left home to go to war, to fight for the women and
children they left behind, was an image abused by successive governments. ‘Not in our name’ was a
popular slogan and many women felt that they could leave their homes for ‘peace’.
Blockades
In March 1982, 250 women blockaded the base. 34 arrests were made. Committed to non-violent
protest but determined to draw attention to the nuclear missiles stationed there, the women repeatedly used ‘passive blockades’ to disrupt the activities of the base. In the years that followed, blockading became an important tactic.
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CHRONOLOGY
PROTEST AT GREENHAM (continued)
Evictions
After an official warning from Newbury District Council that the women would be evicted from the
common land outside the main gate, in May 1982 bailiffs and police used bulldozers to clear tents
and other possessions from the site. Four arrests were made. The camp re-located 20 feet down the
road to an area of land not owned by the Newbury District Council. In the years that followed Greenham women, Newbury District Council, the Ministry of Defence and the Highways Authority played cat
and mouse with eviction orders and re-locations. Sometimes the women were evicted as many as
eight times in a day. In the later years of the protest evictions became increasingly violent.
Embrace the Base
In response to a chain letter 30,000 women arrived at Greenham on the 12 December 1982 to ‘Embrace the Base’. Linking arms, they entirely surrounded the nine miles of perimeter fence. It was an
astonishing show of strength. The following day, the Daily Mirror newspaper carried a single word as
its front-page headline: ‘Peace’. The Greenham women had succeeded in becoming a huge media issue.
Dancing on the missile silost
On New Year’s Eve 1982, 44 women used ladders to get over the barbed wire fence and into the base
for the first time. They had no idea what their reception might be and many feared for their lives. The
women climbed to the top of the silos which were house to the missiles and ‘danced’ for hours. This
goes down in many memories as the ‘top action’. All of the women were arrested, 36 were imprisoned. No one was hurt.
Using the courts
In January 1983, Newbury District Council revoked the common land byelaws for Greenham Common
in yet another attempt to evict the women. Newbury District Council made itself private landlord for
the site and started court proceedings to reclaim eviction costs from women whose address was given
on the electoral role as the peace camp. The following month, High Court injunctions and eviction
hearings were permanently adjourned when 400 women presented affidavits stating that Greenham
was their home. Byelaws restricting access to the camp were eventually ruled illegal by the House of
Lords in 1990.
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CHRONOLOGY
PROTEST AT GREENHAM (continued)
Coordinating actions across the country and abroad
200 women dressed as teddy bears entered the base to stage a protest picnic on 1 April 1983.
On the same day in a joint action with CND, 70,000 people formed a 14-mile human chain linking the
three bases in ‘nuclear valley’, Burghfield, Aldermaston and Greenham. Mass actions like this kept
Greenham in the news.
On 24 May 1983, in celebration of the ‘International Women’s Day for Disarmament’, women were
encouraged to ‘Carry Greenham Home’ and take action in their own communities. 1 million women
did simultaneous actions all over the country and abroad.
In the summer of 1983 thousands of women took part in the Star Marches. Initiated by dozens of
local groups across the country, this mass action was a demonstration of support for the women of
Greenham. The success of the action confirmed the strength of an active network of women that
extended beyond the camp.
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CHRONOLOGY
THE MISSILES ARE COMING (1983)
Heseltine says ‘shoot’
On 1 November 1983, two weeks before the missiles were due to arrive at Greenham, Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine told Parliament that the Greenham base was secure and any intruders ran the
risk of being shot.
Greenham Women v. President Reagan
A group of Greenham women sought to use the U.S. legal system to enjoin the United States from
deploying Cruise missiles in their country. The case, entitled Greenham Women Against Cruise Missiles v. President Reagan was filed in the New York Supreme Court on 9 November 1983. It was
argued that, since the missiles were designed to be used first in response to a conventional conflict,
their deployment was illegal. The case attracted publicity in the US and in Britain, and in many other
countries around the world.
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CHRONOLOGY
THE MISSILES ARRIVE (1983)
Cruise missiles arrive at Greenham
On 14 November 1983 the first Cruise missiles arrive at Greenham. A total of 96 missiles were to follow in the coming months. The Greenham women were devastated but undeterred.
Reflect the Base
On 11 December 1983, three weeks after the Cruise missiles arrived, 50,000 women encircled the
base. Holding mirrors in silent vigil, they symbolically reflected the military’s image back to itself.
The women’s fury at the presence of Cruise missiles at Greenham in the face of such enormous protest was palpable. The day ended with the women pulling vast sections of the fence down. Hundreds
of arrests were made.
Occupying the air traffic control tower
On 27 December 1983, the women made a significant incursion. By occupying a highly sensitive
area, Greenham women directly confronted Heseltine’s assertion that Greenham was the most secure
base in Europe.
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CHRONOLOGY
BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN (1984 – 1985)
Mass evictions
By March 1984, women had been living outside the perimeter fence of the base for 907 days. Newbury district council, the Ministry of Defence and the local police combined forces to evict the camps
in preparation for the first operational missiles being deployed from the base. Over the months and
years that followed, mass evictions became a daily occurrence and the living conditions at the camp
became increasingly difficult.
Rather than feeling that they had lost the battle with Cruise, the women escalated their efforts.
Cruisewatch is formed
Cruise missiles were designed to be fired from mobile launchers at secret locations away from the
base. This required the Cruise convoys to regularly leave the base on practice manoeuvres.
Cruisewatch was formed in March 1984 to track the Cruise convoys whenever they left the base and
disrupt their activities. Their principle concern was to undermine the secrecy upon which nuclear war
preparations depended - they often brought the exercises to a complete stand still.
Michael Heseltine had claimed that the convoys would ‘melt into the countryside’. No deployment of
Cruise from Greenham ever went unnoticed, casting profound doubt on the security and viability of
Cruise missiles.
Other peace camps
In 1984 and 1985, women started to take their protest to other bases in the UK, including Aldermaston and Menwith Hill. There were peace camps, demonstrations, non-violent blockades, trespass,
questions in parliament, and letters to the press as well as radio and TV coverage. Many of these
protests continue to this day.
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CHRONOLOGY
A SEA CHANGE (1985 – 1987)
Mikhail Gorbachev elected General Secretary of the
Communist Party
Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until its collapse in 1991.
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded in the USSR on 26 April 1986. As a result of the catastrophic explosion and hazardous radiation levels, all residents of the area were evacuated – very few
ever returned. The town of Chernobyl has remained virtually abandoned.
Détente
Amidst a paradigm shift in global relations, provoked by Gorbachev’s need to save the Soviet Union
from the crippling costs of the arms race and a genuine horror at the prospect of another nuclear accident – as well as a broad, vociferous, international alliance against nuclear weapons, exemplified by
the Greenham protest – there came a period of détente.
Reagan and Gorbachev sign Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces
(INF) Treaty to rid Europe of cruise The INF Treaty was an agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union signed in Washington, DC on 8 December 1987 by President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev. The treaty
eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and Cruise missiles. By the treaty’s
deadline of 1 June 1991, a total of 2692 of such weapons had been destroyed. Also under the treaty,
both nations were allowed to inspect each other’s military installations.
Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
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CHRONOLOGY
CRUISE MISSILES LEAVE GREENHAM
(1989 – 2000)
The first Cruise missiles leave Greenham
The women of Greenham had succeeded in their quest to raise awareness about nuclear weapons; on
1 August 1989 the first missiles left Greenham. Their protest contributed to a dialogue that eventually led to the removal of the missiles.
It took nearly two years for all of the missiles to be removed, the final missile left for destruction on 5
March 1991. On this day there was a party at Blue Gate to close women’s peace camp; some women
stayed on at yellow gate. On 5 September 2000 the last of the protestors left the camp.
United States Air Force leave Greenham
The USAF gradually withdrew and the base was formally handed back to the RAF in 1992. Although
the military has pulled out of Greenham Common, it still owns three areas, including the silos, which
are available for the Russians to inspect under the terms of the INF treaty. The last such inspection
was in January 1998.
Perimeter fence is demolished
Six years after the last Cruise missile left Greenham, the Greenham Common Trust bought the airbase and the Newbury district council acquired the commons. In a small ceremony, the common land
was officially returned to the people of Newbury in April 2000.
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