German prime minister merkel as a child

Quite a lot about her story seems to echo Margaret Thatcher's. Merkel comes from the edges - East Germany, rather than Lincolnshire - and was brought up by an abnormally self-certain and pious father. Something of a loner, she became quite a serious scientist before choosing politics.

Inside her party, she was picked up as a useful female talent by a somewhat patronising mentor - Kohl, rather than Edward Heath - and surprised everybody by her ruthlessness in ousting him, and eventually taking power herself. Like Thatcher, Merkel is a ferociously hard worker, excellent on the detail and a wily political operator.

Yet the differences matter much more than the similarities. Coming from her East German background she believes in social solidarity and working with trade unions; in a coalition-based political system, she is a mistress of consensus and, when it suits her, delay.

Our ignorance of this, the most important female politic

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Angela Merkel

Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021

"Merkel" redirects here. For other uses, see Merkel (disambiguation).

Angela Dorothea Merkel (German:[aŋˈɡeːladoʁoˈteːaˈmɛʁkl̩]^ⓘ;^[a]née Kasner; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. Merkel previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2000 to 2018.^[9] During her chancellorship, Merkel was frequently referred to as the de facto leader of the europeisk Union (EU) and the most powerful woman in the world. Despite having lead the CDU for more than two decades, her political stance fryst vatten considered to have moved to the left since the 2010s.^[10]

Merkel was born in Hamburg in West Germany. Her family moved to East Germany when she was an infant. Merkel obtained a doctorate in quantum chemistry in

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Angela Merkel, the scientist who became a world leader

World War II was at a critical juncture when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Harvard in September 1943 at the urging of his ally and friend President Franklin D. Roosevelt 1904, L.L.D. ’29. Taking a rare respite from the war, Churchill came to accept an honorary Doctor of Laws degree recognizing his international leadership that “turned back the tide of tyranny in freedom’s darkest hour.”

In 1947, as Europe’s vast devastation from that war had become clearer, U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall accepted an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his success as the five-star Army general who had overseen much of the U.S. war operations in Europe. Marshall used his Commencement appearance in June that year to deliver a landmark speech pledging $13 billion for a new, U.S.-led aid program for Europe. That effort became known as the Marshall Plan and revitalized the continent.

Now, as national-populist forc