7 The 100 Most Influential World Leaders of All Time 7

Begin formed another coalition government after the
general election of 1980. Despite his willingness to return
the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt under the terms of the peace
agreement, he remained resolutely opposed to the estab-
lishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. In June 1982 his government mounted an invasion of
Lebanon in an effort to oust the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) from its bases there. The PLO was
driven from Lebanon, but the deaths of numerous
Palestinian civilians there turned world opinion against
Israel. Israel’s continuing involvement in Lebanon and the
death of Begin’s wife in November 1982 were probably
among the factors that prompted him to resign from office
in October of 1983.

Willy Brandt

(b. Dec. 18, 1913, Lübeck, Ger.—d. Oct. 8/9, 1992, Unkel, near Bonn)

W

illy Brandt was a German statesman who served as
leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
(Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or SPD) from
1964 to 1987 and chancellor of the Federal Republic of
Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize for in 1971 for his efforts to achieve reconcili-
ation between West Germany and the countries of the
Soviet bloc.
Born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, Brandt passed his
university entrance examination in 1932. A year later, how-
ever, when the Nazis came to power, his activities as a
young Social Democrat brought him into conflict with the
Gestapo, and he was forced to flee the country to escape
arrest. It was at this time, while living in Norway and earn-
ing a living as a journalist, that he assumed the name Willy
Brandt. When the Germans occupied Norway, he escaped