in 2014 the terrorist group islamic state launched a campaign to take or parts of iraq a syria. hundreds of thousands of people were killed or displaced. to ph back theilitantsthe -led coalion joined britain and france targeted the so-called islamic state with airstrikes. this tim violence spread into europe. on january 7th, 2015, two gunmen raided the offices of the ench satirical magazine charlie hebdo paris. 12 people were killed that day, traumatizing the country. angela merkel was in london visiting british prime minister david cameron, and immediately pledged germany's support.

>> i will always be incredibly grateful to angela merkel for the stance she took when france fell victim to terrorist tacks. germany was our most valuable friend through those times. she was able to express solidarity with gestures. angela merkel came to paris she took the initiative and was the first to say she would join a mass demonstration against the threat of islamic extremism on january 11. that shaped our cooperation in the fight against terrorism. it was very important for franco-german relations, and for the personal relationship between myself and merkel. it fostered enduring respect and appreciation. >> in the summer of 2015, merkel faced one of e most

consequential decisions of her political career. millions were fleeing war and persecution in syria and other cris regions. many sought refuge in eupe. and thereou had a cavan ofhe world's most stitute, finding their way through these mhustlers on these dangerous bos, making eir way into gree and italynd beyond. fand everywhere they went, thee mdoors were slammed in their face >>veryone was osing their bs from entering. she took the bold step of standing up and saying "i am going to open my borders and i will allow these people in." she knows she was taking a risk. >> we have an obligation to

granrefuge to thoswho derve refu. >> hundreds and thousands of syrians fleeing bombs, fleeing opprsion, somew managingo geto eope and then walking toerma and chantg germany, germany. >> the problem is not a european problem, the problem is a german problem. nobody would like to stay in hungary. >> hungary is really europe's poster-child for the worst refugee-response, where germy ishe best annow we hav seen france and britain today announce respectively 24.000 and .000 refugees that each of those countriesill take in, but remember over a period of years, whereas in o day th past week, geany took in 17,000efugees. in one day. >> germany is strong and our motto to approaching this must be:

we've done so much, we can do this! >> i know that this decision was not easy for chancellor merkel. it took a lot of courage to make that decision both political courage, moral courage, and the courage of one's convictions. >> i think this was a great political mistake. it underestimated the dangers of uncontrolled migration. allowing tt to happegave rise to an extremely unpleasant populist backlash. >> by late summer 2015germans were taking to the streets to protest the chancellor's migration policy. she fought back. >> if we have to start apologizing for showing kindness in an emergency, then this is not my country. >> she had to weather the political storm. at the time, large parts of the german public hated her. but a statesman or stateswoman is someone who stands up to

domestic pressure, and she withstood the pressure. she is a strong woman. >> some praised angela merkel as a politician with a big heart others attacked her. even european partners criticized her policy. merkel looked for allies, for more countries willi to take in migrants, and she called for a europe-wide refugee policy. but gaining partners proved difficult. eastern european countries were especially reluctant. eu leaders convened in brussels to find a solution. despite their diff@aences, they agreed on one thing: to stop people from war-torn countries from entering western europe, the eu would have to support turkey a country long left to care for syrian refugees on its own. on behalf of the european union, angela merkel traveled to istanbul in october 2015, seeking help from the government of prime minister

ahmet davutoglu. >> for five years turkey and neighbouring countries like jordan and lebanon had shouldered the burden of all these refugees. to european leaders and to merkel, the crisis was something that was far away. they wanted to stop refugees from entering europe at the turkish border, and they unilaterally expected turkey to pl along. >> turkey played hardball. in her meeting with its all-powerful president, recep tayeb erdogan, merkel tried to secure a guarantee that ankara would stop refugees from crossing into the eu. among the incentives: eu financial aid and the prospect of visa-free travel in europe for turkish citizens. in march 2016, the eu and turkey struck a deal. from then on, fewer migrants reached europe even though hundreds of thousands more fled their homes to escape violence. they remain effectively

imprisoned inside refugee camps. at the same time, public dissatisfaction with brussels was mounting in britain. a growing chorus demded more independence and less dissatisimmigration. brussels the answer britain's exit from the eu brexit. in early 2016, prime minister david cameron pressed eu partners to grant britain special status -- ensuring its sovereignty, above all in migration policy. he got what he wanted in a deal strongly backed by angela merkel, who was fighting to keep britain in the eu. that decision was to be put to a referendum in june 2016 -- stay in the eu, or leave. the pro-brexit camp exploited public fear of refugees and immigration to whip up support for leaving. cameron's party colleague boris johnson was among those campaigning with nationalist rhetoric to end eu membership.

on june 23rd, 2016, a narrow majority of britons backed brexit. angela merkel was “not amused”. >> it is with great regret that we must note today the decision of the majority of the british public, to end the united kingdom's membership in the european union. >> for her, brexit was a very serious blow, remains a very serious blow, and you know, she tried everything she possibly could to avoid it.. >> nationalism triumphed over european cooperation. a defeat for angela merkel. and for european unity. >> wre going tbeat china japan, we're gng to beat

mexico. the fakeedia is tryit silence us. >> 2016 saw donald trump win the white house pledging to shake up the world order with his nationalist agenda. >> it's going to be only america first. >> following his inauguration, trump's foreign policy appeared designed to undermine global cooperation analienate allies. but the was still one of germany's most important partners. angela merkel was in a bind. two months after taking office, donald trump extended his first invitation to the german chancellor to sit the whe house. but the brash us president and circumspect german chancellor appeared worlds apart. >> donald trump absolutely loathed angela merkel.

i cannot think of another example of one politician expressing such hot-blooded contempt for another as he did towards her. he just could not handle merkel. he didn't like her hyper rationality, he couldn't handle her calmness, he was endlessly suspicious of the fact that she didn't express herself with a simithe one that he had.y to >> once again, merkel banked on communication with a difficult partner. >> it's much better to talk to one another than about one another. >> trump stuck to his confrontational course. he withdrew the us from the paris climate accord that merkel had fought so long to achieve. he repeatedly demanded that nato allies, and germany in particular, increased their own defense spending. ev if the twdidn't shoit, retions betwn germany d

the us were in free fall. >> the times in which we could completely rely on each other are, to an extent, over. >> while trump remained erratic and vindictive, angela merkel became the center of gravity for liberal, democratic values. and after four turbulent years, she was still holding her ground as donald trump exited the world stage. unlike trump, who denied the reality of climate change, gela merkemade theight agait global wming a picy iority. as host a e baltic i2007, shhoped to agaget the world's biggest greenhouse gas polluters to set limits on emissions.

but she faced stiff resistance. >> angela was very strong on the environment and i don't blame her. well i understood the issue, i just didn't wanto have a global treaty that didn't include china and india. otherwise it was a waste of time. >> merkel's guests acknowledged that rises in co2 emissions would first need to be stopped and then substantially reduced, but their agreement was largely non-binding. >> the final statement from the summit in heiligendamm said, “we will seriously consider cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by the middle of the century.” and i was just floored. if you understand the language, you realize that's a completely empty statement. and then the media hyped merkel up and dubbed her the climat chanceor. but she'd really done nothing to justify that title. >> merkel strove to lead by example.

in007 her binet apoved a package to slash germany's >greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent before 2020. it included higher taxes on gas-guzzling vehicles. but german carmakers blocked i cars rain germany's top exrt product a the aumotive indtry a poweul employer. merkel could not and would not meddle with this powerful sector. her clean energy legacy is also mixed. while the share renewable energy increased by 36 percent during her tenure, germany still operates europe's dirtiest coal-fired power plants. and by global standards, its citizens have a large carb footprint. >> it absolutely makes sense for an industrialized country like germany to pursue ambitious climate targets. we nd to show that prospery and climate protection are not

mutually exclusive. i thk it would have sent an portant signal to thworld. and then none would have been able to "no, as an industrialized country, we can't mage such a tranormati.” we coulhave done it. >> during her leership, global temperatures contind to rise. when a new generation began demandinaction, meel backed t. at least rhetorically, the fighfor more eicient climate otection rained a priority uil the endf her tenure. >> she's really emotionally invested in the issue. she truly believes from the bottom of her heart that what's at stake here is humanity's very existence but she'also pgmaticshe ows whatou can a can't t done. and th's whyhe decisn ken wereften notng more thanhe lowescommon and th'sdenominar.isn

>> mnwhilesomethg else a invible as genhouse s was moting to other glal cris. early 20, startg in the chie cthpublic heah emergenc rlcaug the wor sorely unprared. hundredsf millio have fallen ill, millions have died. initially hetant, merk imsed restctions. a landmark addrs she appeal directlto the public. >> dear fellow citizens: the coronavirus is currently changing daily life in our country dramatically. our idea of normality, of public life, social togetherness all of this is being put to the test like never before. >> the government imposed drtic measures to curb the spread of the virus. germany went into lockdown shutting businesses, cultural venues, restaurants and shops. public life came to a standstill.

>> i think she did what she needed to do. she's one of those that took decisive action immediately and as a matter of fact, i think it worked. >> if you look at just the past ye and a hal countries that have beeled by wom have ped far beer during is ndemic tn others in germy and arnd the world, aneconom toll.man lives l enre indtries were ford tohutter f months. like other continents, europe faced severe economic fallout. and a further erosion of public trust in government. to shield the eu from both angela merkel broke a german fiscal taboo. together with french president emmanuel macron, she backed a strategy she'd ruled out a decade earlier: collective debt to share the costs of the crisis across the eurozone.

>> throughout all of the crises that have shaken europe, she was a representative of european interests. >> in mid-august, 2021, the taliban took the afghan capital of kul largelyithout sistance. >with ts, the aitious1, the toject of t united stes capital and s allies, cluding germany, ce to an abpt end. the confli, which hadraggedhe on for tnty yearwas finallypital catching up with angela merkel at the end of her chancellorship. >> this is very bitter news. the development is especially bitter, dramatic, and terrible for the people in afghanistan. this country has suffered again and again in the course of its history. >> as of late 2001, the german military and other nato troops had been deployed along the hindu kush to support the us in

their fight against the taliban and the al qaida terrorist group. their mission was to bring afghanistan more security, and promote human rights, women's rights, and democratic development. more than 200,000 people lost their lives in the conflict. >> it was a mistake to protract the operation for 20 years in the absence of a coherent plan that would have stabilized afghanistan -- stabilized it, i don't say democratized it, i don't say modernized it, but stabilized it. >> when angela merkel became chancellor in 2005, german troops were already deployed in afghanistan. she visited the bundeswehr in the region several times. merkel supported and justified the mission, even though it cost the lives of 59 german soldiers. when, in february 2020, donald trump announced the withdrawal

of us troops froafghanistan by may 2021, it was ear that all other foren troops wld alsoeave the cntry. the new us president, joe biden, had extended the withdrawal date to the end of august 2021. but even months before, the taliban were taking back province after province. thus ended a mission that had been ordered by a different us president, 20 years ago. >> the taliban regime is coming to an en i think about all the interpreters and people that helped not only us troops, but nato troops, and, it seems like they're just going to be left behind to be slaughtered by these very brutal people. >> many former afghan colleagues of the german military and other western troops had been requesting visas to leave the country for months. most of them had been rejected and left to their own fate in afghanistan. >> no one should be able to sleep easy knowing that that

has been the outcome of this disastrously ill-planned exit. >> by now, western troops have completely withdrawn from afghanistan, leaving behind a country in ruins. now, after 16 years, the era of angela merkel is coming to an end. 16 years in which the german chancellor faced unprecedented challenges at home, in europe, and abroad. >> it is still a remarkable acevement toave pt the whole thing together and kept it together through probably the most difficultet of years that europe experienced. >> she will be missed, but she will also be busy. we don'tant her quit, she going be the paon of wome

all over the world. i bet a lacy of angela merkel is that there's a lot of girls who watch anla merkel, say, “i too can have a position of responsibility and power,” because she conducted herself with such dignity. >> the true essence of the merkel chancellorship is stagnation. the goal was to keep things as they were, because germans were content with the way they were. >> well, i will certainly remember her until i die, but i fear that she's not going to be remembered in history, because she didn't have a vision for europe or for germany. >> she got many things right and did nothing substantially wrong. that's no small compliment. >> i want to take a break and ask myself what i'm most interested in. in the past 16 years i've had

little time to think about things like that. and then, i'll try to read a bit, and my eyes will droop because i'm tired and i'll take a nap and then -- let's see where i turn up.

>> this is dw news, live from berlin. tonight, this is the biggest winner in iraq's election. the turnout was the lowest as the days of saddam hussein. there is a political elite that is seen as inept and corpt. coming up tonit, a bold plan of putting one third of the planet under environmental protection tcut plastic waste. cait