Overview

Helmut Schmidt is the neglected chancellor of modern German history, overshadowed by 'the greats' - Bismarck, Adenauer, Brandt and Kohl. This volume retrieves Schmidt's true significance as a pivotal figure who helped reshape the global order during the crisis-ridden 1970s. This major reinterpretation, based on detailed research in Schmidt's private papers and numerous archives in Europe and America, reveals him as a leader equally skilled in economics and security, and adept at personal diplomacy, who dared to act as a 'double interpreter' between the superpowers during the nadir of the Cold War.Schmidt was no mere 'crisis-manager': in fact he brought to the chancellorship a depth of reflection, evident in two decades of writings and speeches that justifies considering him an intellectual statesman on a par with Henry Kissinger. His achievements were prodigious. Hailed as the 'world economist', Schmidt helped create the G7 forum for global economic governance and the European Monetary System at a time when capitalism seemed on the rocks. And as the 'strategist of balance', he designed NATO's 'dual-track' response to the crisis caused by the massive Soviet arms buildup of Euro-missiles. This decision, Kristina Spohr argues, played a crucial part in holding together the Western alliance and paved the way to defusing the Cold War in Europe.Schmidt brought his country to the top table of world politics - what he unashamedly called Weltpolitik - as an equal of the wartime victor powers. It was through his Chancellorship that West Germany came of age on the global stage.

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9780198747796

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Reviews

The Global Chancellor is more than a first rate biography; it is a seminal account of fundamental change in the international system during the 1970s. It should be read by everyone who tries to understand how today's world was created. O. A. Westad, Harvard University

a must read * Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Internationale Politik - Die Zeitschrift: Book of the Year 2016 [translated] * seldomly has a historical study been so current as Kristina Spohr's book on Helmut Schmidt. * Niels Annen, SPD Foreign Affairs Spokesman in the Bundestag, Internationale Politik - Die Zeitschrift: Book of the Year 2016 [translated] * A pioneering study which reveals Schmidt's unusual personal impact on the growth of West Germany's international significance during a time of great crises. It is based on the widest array of sources and couched in appealing biographical form. Those who want to understand how Germany returned to the realm of world politics will find in Spohr's book important cornerstones of an explanation. * Philipp Gassert, Mannheim University [Translated review of German edition] * Kristina Spohr's brilliant analysis succeeds thanks to its global view of Helmut Schmidt - one that is rarely found in Germany. This book is the first to illuminate him in terms of his full significance for world politics. A must for anybody interested in contemporary history. * Soenke Neitzel, Potsdam University [Translated review of German edition] * This is truly novel: Helmut Schmidt consistently explored in an international perspective rather than from an inward-looking German viewpoint - this is real progress not only for our understanding of the person, but of the whole history of the Federal Republic. * Andreas Roedder, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz [Translated review of German edition] * Spohr deftly designs a political history that goes beyond the ordinary political biography, engaging the reader to reevaluate the complex (and now often forgotten) times when Schmidt served and his ability to manage many unknowns ... Highly recommended. * R. A. Harper, CHOICE * [An] exceedingly fine and sophisticated study Professor Spohr's thoughtful and cogently argued reassessment of Schmidt raises profound questions about the role of individuals in international politics in general as well as about Schmidt's posthumous standing The Global Chancellor is a little gem; it is international history at its best. It leaves one asking for more, and perhaps Professor Spohr can be induced to turn her hand to Schmidt's relations with France, Poland and China, the rise of the latter in the twenty-first century he predicted before it became fashionable to do so. * T.G. Otte, Diplomacy & Statecraft * In her fine new study, Kristina Spohr makes the case for re-evaluating Schmidt's role in international politics ... Spohr has written an excellent brief account of Schmidt's role in Western councils during the 1970s and early 1980s. In doing so, she has gone a long way towards rehabilitating his role as a statesman as well. * Thomas W. Maulucci, Jr., German History * In this book Kristina Spohr offers a major and long overdue reassessment of German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt ... a major contribution by a first-rate scholar and should be widely read. It is testament to the importance and value of detailed archival research. * Kenneth Dyson, International Affairs * [Spohr] has done readers a service by crafting a well-documented English-language treatment of this leading twentieth-century statesman. * Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs * The strength of the book is the way it illuminates Schmidt's thinking on both economic and strategic questions and the relationship between them. * Wall Street Journal * The Global Chancellor is more than a first rate biography; it is a seminal account of fundamental change in the international system during the 1970s. It should be read by everyone who tries to understand how today's world was created. * O. A. Westad, Harvard University * Kristina Spohr's excellent new book ... makes a convincing case for [Schmidt's] important role in global affairs. She has succeeded in establishing the terms of future scholarly debate on his historical significance. * Michael F. Hopkins, Slavonic and East European Review * a remarkable contribution on one of the key figures of the second half of the 20th century * Etudes internationales (Translated) *

The Global Chancellor is more than a first rate biography; it is a seminal account of fundamental change in the international system during the 1970s. It should be read by everyone who tries to understand how today's world was created. O. A. Westad, Harvard University This is truly novel: Helmut Schmidt consistently explored in an international perspective rather than from an inward-looking German viewpoint - this is real progress not only for our understanding of the person, but of the whole history of the Federal Republic. Andreas Rodder, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz [Translated review of German edition] Kristina Spohr's brilliant analysis succeeds thanks to its global view of Helmut Schmidt - one that is rarely found in Germany. This book is the first to illuminate him in terms of his full significance for world politics. A must for anybody interested in contemporary history. Sonke Neitzel, Potsdam University [Translated review of German edition] A pioneering study which reveals Schmidt's unusual personal impact on the growth of West Germany's international significance during a time of great crises. It is based on the widest array of sources and couched in appealing biographical form. Those who want to understand how Germany returned to the realm of world politics will find in Spohr's book important cornerstones of an explanation. Philipp Gassert, Mannheim University [Translated review of German edition] seldomly has a historical study been so current as Kristina Spohr's book on Helmut Schmidt. Niels Annen, Internationale Politik - Die Zeitschrift: Book of the Year 2016 [translated] a must read Wolfgang Ischinger, Internationale Politik - Die Zeitschrift: Book of the Year 2016 [translated]

The Global Chancellor is more than a first rate biography; it is a seminal account of fundamental change in the international system during the 1970s. It should be read by everyone who tries to understand how today's world was created. O. A. Westad, Harvard University This is truly novel: Helmut Schmidt consistently explored in an international perspective rather than from an inward-looking German viewpoint - this is real progress not only for our understanding of the person, but of the whole history of the Federal Republic. Andreas Rodder, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz [Translated review of German edition] Kristina Spohr's brilliant analysis succeeds thanks to its global view of Helmut Schmidt - one that is rarely found in Germany. This book is the first to illuminate him in terms of his full significance for world politics. A must for anybody interested in contemporary history. Sonke Neitzel, Potsdam University [Translated review of German edition] A pioneering study which reveals Schmidt's unusual personal impact on the growth of West Germany's international significance during a time of great crises. It is based on the widest array of sources and couched in appealing biographical form. Those who want to understand how Germany returned to the realm of world politics will find in Spohr's book important cornerstones of an explanation. Philipp Gassert, Mannheim University [Translated review of German edition]

Author Information

Kristina Spohr is Associate Professor of International History at the London School of Economics. German-Finnish by birth, she studied at the University of East Anglia, Sciences Po Paris, and Cambridge University and also worked for a year in the NATO Secretary General's Private Office in Brussels. Her publications include Germany and the Baltic Question after the Cold War: The Development of a New Ostpolitik, 1989-2000 (2004); Building Sustainable and Effective Capabilities: A Systemic Comparison of Professional and Conscript Forces (editor, 2004); and At the Crossroads of Past and Present: 'Contemporary' History and the Historical Discipline (co-editor, 2011).

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