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| 1954 | Birth |  |
| 17th July Hamburg Birth of Angela Dorothea Merkel |
| 1973 | Education | |
| Leipzig Merkel is educated in Templin and at the University of Leipzig, where she studied physics from 1973 to 1978 |
| 1978 | Education | |
| Studies at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences from 1978 to 1990 |
| 1989 | Demokratischer Aufbruch | |
| Merkel gets involved in the growing democracy movement after the fall of the Berlin Wall, joining the new party Demokratischer Aufbruch |
| 1989 | Election | |
| Following the first (and only) democratic election of the East German state, Merkel becomes the deputy spokesperson of the new pre-unification caretaker government under Lothar de Maizire |
| 1990 | Demokratischer Aufbruch | |
| Merkel's party the Demokratischer Aufbruch merges with the west German CDU and she becomes Minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl's cabinet |
| 1990 | Election | |
| Dec Stralsund At the first post-reunification general election Merkel is elected to the Bundestag from a constituency which includes the districts of Nordvorpommern and Rgen, as well as the city of Stralsund |
| 1990 | Minister of Women and Youth | |
| Merkel's party the Demokratischer Aufbruch merges with the west German CDU and she becomes Minister for Women and Youth in Helmut Kohl's cabinet |
| 1990 | Unification | |
| Dec Stralsund At the first post-reunification general election Merkel is elected to the Bundestag from a constituency which includes the districts of Nordvorpommern and Rgen, as well as the city of Stralsund |
| 1994 | Minister of Environment and Reactor Safety | |
| Appointed Minister for the Environment and Reactor Safety |
| 1998 | Secretary General | |
| The Kohl government was defeated in the general election, Merkel is named Secretary-General of the CDU |
| 1999 | Election | |
| Merkel oversees a string of Chris tian Democrat election victories in six out of seven regional elections in 1999 alone, breaking the SPD-Green coalition's hold on the Bundesrat, the legislative body representing the states |
| 2000 | Chairwoman CDU | |
| 9th April Appointed Chairwoman of the Chris tian Democratic Union |
| 2002 | Chairwoman CDU CSU | |
| Appointed Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary party group from 2002 to 2005 |
| 2003 | Diplomacy | |
| defying strong public opposition, Merkel comes out in favour of the USAinvasion of Iraq, describing it as "unavoidable" and accusing Chancellor Gerhard Schrder of anti-Americanism |
| 2003 | Invasion of Iraq | |
| defying strong public opposition, Merkel comes out in favour of the USAinvasion of Iraq, describing it as "unavoidable" and accusing Chancellor Gerhard Schrder of anti-Americanism |
| 2005 | Chancellor | |
| 14th Nov Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany after working out a power-sharing agreement with outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's Social Democratic Party |
| 14th Nov Merkel is elected Chancellor by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag |
| 2005 | Diplomacy | |
| 15th Nov Merkel's first foreign trMerkel travels to Paris for a meeting with the French president, Jacques Chirac, In his speech, Chirac emphasized the importance of the Franco-German Companionship for Europe |
| 2005 | Election | |
| After three weeks of negotiations between the CDU/CSU and SPD, the two parties reached a deal whereby Merkel would become Chancellor and the SPD would hold 8 of the 16 seats in the cabinet |
| Leads a Grand coalition with the sister party, the Chris tian Social Union (CSU), and with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), formed after the federal election |
| 10th May Merkel wins the CDU/CSU nomination as challenger to Chancellor Gerhard Schrder of the SPD in the 2005 national elections |
| 18th Sep Merkel's CDU/CSU and Schrder's SPD went head-to-head in the national elections, with the CDU/CSU winning 35.3% (CDU 27.8%/CSU 7.5%) of the second votes to the SPD's 34.2% |
| 14th Nov Merkel is elected Chancellor by the majority of delegates (397 to 217) in the newly assembled Bundestag |
| 14th Nov The coalition deal is approved by both CDU/CSU and SPD parties at party conferences |
| 2006 | Economy | |
| Many economic commentators have referred to the 'Merkel factor', which has apparently caused a rapid rise in consumer confidence and market spending |
| 2006 | Poll Rating | |
| In early 2006, polls showed that Angela Merkel, having been in office for only about 100 days, had the highest approval rate among Germans ever to be recorded for a chancellor since 1949 |
