As she hangs her boots, Angela Merkel has left her mark at home and abroad

German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week announced she would not stand for re-election again, after being a towering figure in European politics for more than a decade.

An enormously popular leader at her peak, in recent state elections it became all too clear that Merkel had become an electoral liability for her party. She had been safe when it was just the lunatic right wing of the so-called Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) that demanded her exit. But now that her once unassailable grip on centrist voters has loosened, she had no choice but to go. Her term