Schmidt Becomes Chancellor of West Germany. 6 May 1974. The Changes in German Politics as Seen from Italy: Reactions and Debates

This chapter discusses how Italian public opinion interpreted the changeover between Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt in the West German Chancellery. It then explores how far the differences between the two social-democrat leaders brought repercussions for the Italian left-wing camp and, more generally, for the various political actors in Italy during the profound transformation that was the 1970s.