2022 - year of the Zeitenwende

Dear Reader,

Olaf Scholz isn’t the most rhetorically gifted politician in the world. He is a dry and sober man who prefers the company of books to other people. But you have to give it to him. Zeitenwende, a term that he used to describe the post-invasion world of 2022, has come to define the year.

It has even become popular among Anglophone journalists, meaning it can join Merkel’s famous contribution to English vocabulary: ‘wir schaffen das.’

Zeitenwende translates roughly to ‘a new era.’ The word Wende, a nautical term that refers to turning a boat around, is often used to describe a big moment in German history. The reunification of east and west in 1990 is famously known as die Wende. The transition to renewable energy (probably the most gradual turn in human history) is called the Energie-wende.

For Scholz, the Zeitenwende that was brought about by Russia’s invasion meant an end to a world in which trade ties were supposed to stop countries from going to war. The consequence would …