  It is often stated that the Carlitz module is to the ring of univariate
polynomials over a finite field what the multiplicative group is to the ring of
integers. This analogy extends to the "rank 2" case, where Drinfeld modules
play a role similar to that of elliptic curves. This work grew out with the
will of finding a common definition for these objects, depending only on the
ring of coefficients, and thus elevating this analogy to a common theory. To
that end, we introduce a class of algebraic $A$-modules for a finitely
generated Dedekind ring $A$, called "modules \'el\'ementaires", which naturally
generalize Drinfeld modules, forms of the multiplicative group, and elliptic
curves over a field (when $A$ has the corresponding form). The objective of
this text is the classification of these "modules \'el\'ementaires".
