The Global Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Helmut Schmidt led West Germany from 1974 to 1982 amid a world economic crisis and one of the frostiest phases of the Cold War. Yet his chancellorship has been neglected in the main by Cold War scholars. This volume, researched in Schmidt's private papers and numerous archives in Europe and America, reveals him as an intellectual statesman on a par with Henry Kissinger and a leader who reshaped the international order. Equally at home in security and economics,Schmidt became the supreme 'strategist of balance' and earned himself the nickname of 'world economist'. His achievements included the G7 forum for global economic governance, the European MonetarySystem, and NATO's 'dual-track' response to the massive Soviet arms buildup of Euromissiles. Schmidt's creative leadership brought his country to the top table of world politics as an equal of the wartime victor powers. It was through his chancellorship that West Germany came of age on the global stage.