When did France detonate their first atomic bomb?
1960 “Gerboise Bleue (“blue jerboa”) was the name of the first French nuclear test. It was an atomic bomb detonated in the middle of the Algerian Sahara desert on 13 February 1960, during the Algerian War (1954-62). General Pierre Marie Gallois was instrumental in the endeavour, and earned the nickname of père de la bombe A (“father of the A-bomb”). Gerboise is the jerboa, a desert rodent, while blue is the first color of the French tricolor flag. So the second and third bombs were named respectively “white” (Gerboise Blanche) and “red” (Gerboise Rouge).” “In 1968, France detonated its first thermonuclear weapon, Canopus (2.6Mt), at the new facility at Fangataufa, a desert atoll in French Polynesia.” Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.
