organisations was the brutal reaction of the Berlin
police to students demonstrating against the visit
of the Shah of Iran. On 2 June 1967, a police-
man shot and killed an unarmed student, who at
once became a martyr. Street battles followed in
several German cities. But the student movement
had no alternative to offer to German society; no
extreme leftist movement could evoke mass sym-
pathies with the spectacle of communist rule in
the East before everyone’s eyes. Did the student
movement, then, achieve anything beyond the
reform of its own nest, the universities? It prob-
ably strengthened the feeling that there was a
need for change; some politicians like Willy
Brandt, leader of the SPD, understood that here
was a new electorate, a new generation to be lis-
tened to and reconciled to the democratic insti-
tutions of the Federal Republic created by the old
founding fathers.
By the time the general election was held in
September 1969, the grand coalition had fallen
apart. The SPD had substantially increased its share
of the vote, the German economy having recov-
ered under the guidance of a Social Democratic
minister working in tandem with Franz Josef
Strauss, thus ridding them of their ‘red’ image.
The CDU/CSU, nevertheless, remained the lead-
ing party; its partner, the FDP, lost heavily and
now switched its support to the SPD, which under
the leadership of Willy Brandt offered a fresh direc-
tion in foreign policy. Together they formed the
new government. It was the start of a new period
of SPD–FDP rule. In this way, the system of pro-
portional representation had in 1969 placed the
party with the largest number of votes, the
CDU/CSU, into opposition; by far the smallest of
the three parties, the FDP, had decided which of
the two major parties was placed in power. With
less than 2 million votes, and barely passing the 5
per cent threshold necessary to gain representa-
tion, the FDP had brought about a decisive change
by switching sides. The working of democracy832 WESTERN EUROPE GATHERS STRENGTH: AFTER 1968
Students distribute underground literature in Wenceslas Square after soviet tanks had suppressed the Prague
Spring. © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis