End of an Era: Germany’s Merkel Bows Out After 16 Years

End of an Era: Germany’s Merkel Bows Out After 16 Years
German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech as she attends her military tattoo ceremony in Berlin, on Dec. 2, 2021. Friedemann Vogel/Pool/Getty Images
The Associated Press
Updated:

BERLIN—Angela Merkel was assured of a place in the history books as soon as she became Germany’s first female chancellor on Nov. 22, 2005.

Over the next 16 years, she was credited with raising Germany’s profile and influence, working to hold a fractious European Union together, managing a string of crises, and being a role model for women.