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| 1974, May 16 |
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| Brandt resigned as a result of an East German spy scandal; Helmut Schmidt succeeded him as federal chancellor. Under Schmidt, a series of progressive social policies was implemented, including the passage and ratification of a codetermination law that allowed equal numbers of representatives of owners and employees to form a supervisory body in each company. Simultaneously, the feminist movement contributed to a notable increase in the number of women attending German universities. Schmidt was reelected as chancellor in 1976 and again in 1980. | 1 |
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| 1975, July 25 |
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| The Bundestag approved the accords of the Helsinki Conference, which finalized the borders of European signatory states and guaranteed human rights in Europe. | 2 |
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| 1977–79 |
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| Rise of Green Party (later known as the Greens) in Länder (state) elections. It gained enough popular support to enter federal elections in 1980. The Greens offered themselves as an alternative to the so-called generation of '45, which had ruled Germany since the end of the war. | 3 |
| A “second enlightenment” affected West German theater in the 1970s, which turned the stage into a forum of social and political consciousness-raising by means of “total theater,” with extensive audience involvement. Peter Stein was a representative director of this decade. | 4 |
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| 1981, June 11 |
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| Richard von Weizsäcker was elected governing mayor of West Berlin after the Christian Democratic Union's victory at the polls. He was elected federal president in 1984. | 5 |
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| 1982 |
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| Collapse of the SPD-FDP coalition in government since 1969. In mid-1982 Schmidt's Social Democrats (SPD) clashed with Genscher's Free Democrats (FDP) over economic strategy. On Sept. 17, four FDP ministers left Schmidt's cabinet. | 6 |
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| Oct. 1 |
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| Helmut Kohl (Christian Democrat) was elected chancellor after a successful constructive vote of no confidence in the Bundestag. His CDU-CSU-FDP coalition obtained a clear majority in national elections in March 1983. | 7 |
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