TIME World

10 Photos That Show Why Angela Merkel Is the World’s Most Powerful Woman

From Vladimir Putin to Benjamin Netanyahu, see a year in the life of the German Chancellor

From left: French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the European Council Donald Tusk, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas link arms during a silent march against terrorism in Paris on Jan. 11, 2015 following the attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on during a news conference after peace talks about east Ukraine at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 10, 2015. Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron listen to their nations' national anthems upon Cameron's arrival at the Chancellery on May 29, 2015 in Berlin. U.S. President Obama, Germany's Chancellor Merkel and France's President Hollande attend a working dinner at a G7 summit at the hotel castle Elmau in Kruen German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama outside the Elmau castle in Kruen near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on June 8, 2015 during the G7 summit. Angela Merkel welcomes Queen Elizabeth II upon her arrival at the Federal Chancellery on the second of the royal couple's four-day visit to Germany on June 24, 2015 in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron talk at the beginning of their meeting at the country residence of the prime minister at Chequers in Buckinghamshire, England on Oct. 9, 2015. Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras talks with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a meeting over the Balkan refugee crisis with leaders from central and eastern Europe at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels on Oct. 25, 2015. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk at the Federal Chancellery on Oct. 21, 2015 in Berlin. China's Premier Li Keqiang and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel inspect honor guards during a welcoming ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 29, 2015.

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