The Global Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Kristina Spohr

First major study in English of Schmidt's foreign policy and its intellectual roots
Shows Schmidt as a 'global chancellor', engaging with major world leaders such as Kissinger
Combines biography, economic history, and security studies
Contributes to current debate on the Cold War and globalization in the 1970s
Presents a multi-national approach, based on numerous archives in five countries, including Schmidt's own private papers

The Global Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Kristina Spohr

Description

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.

The Global Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Kristina Spohr

The Global Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Kristina Spohr

Author Information

Kristina Spohr, Associate Professor in International History, London School of Economics

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).

The Global Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Kristina Spohr

Reviews and Awards

"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 Rödder, 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." - Sönke 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

Helmut Schmidt and the Reshaping of the International Order

Kristina Spohr

From Our Blog

A prickly pair: Helmut Schmidt and Jimmy Carter

Helmut Schmidt and Jimmy Carter never got on. Theirs was, in fact, one of the most explosive relationships in postwar, transatlantic history and it strained to the limit the bond between West Germany and America. The problems all started before Carter became president, when the German chancellor unwisely chose to meddle in American electoral politics.

Posted on April 26, 2016

Read the blog post

Meeting Helmut Schmidt: the man behind the statesman

15 October 2015. Another cold, grey afternoon in Hamburg-Langenhorn. My last research visit to Helmut Schmidt's private archive next to his home, a simple bungalow in the northern suburbs of the city. I was there to check some final references before sending my book off to press. But unexpectedly there was a chance to say hello to the former Chancellor, now ailing and housebound, before I took a taxi to the airport.

Posted on March 17, 2016

Read the blog post