Helmut Schmidt, who served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982, has died at the age of 96.

The Social Democrat leader died at his home in Hamburg.

His leadership coincided with a dramatic period of history in terms of the Cold War.

He was elected as chancellor after the resignation of fellow Social Democrat Willy Brandt, who left office after it was discovered that a top aide of his was an East German spy.

Schmidt's own time in office was hit by turbulent times.

He was in charge when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and supported the US-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 but said later the move had "brought nothing" as a result.

He explained later that he felt he could not "afford extra conflict with America" because he had already fallen out with President Jimmy Carter over financial and defence issues.

The West German former chancellor was at the helm soon after the 1973 oil crisis - which saw Arab countries imposing an oil embargo following US support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

As a result of that, Schmidt was one of the leaders behind the first economic summit of leading industrial nations that began as a way of warding off global recession - it later became known as the G7.

'The German Autumn'

He also had to face internal problems with the rise of the left-wing terror group, the Baader Meinhof gang, which was at the peak of its activities in the mid-1970s.

During a campaign of violence in 1977 that became known as the "German Autumn," the group murdered, among others, West Germany's chief federal prosecutor and the chief executive of Dresdner Bank.

Schmidt refused their demands to release jailed leaders of what by then had become the Red Army Faction despite the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, the head of the country's industry federation.

"The state must react with all the necessary toughness," Schmidt insisted.

While Schleyer was being held captive, hijackers commandeered a Lufthansa plane to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, to force the release of the Red Army Faction leaders.

On Schmidt's orders, West German anti-terrorist commandos stormed the jet, successfully rescuing 86 hostages. Soon after, three of the terrorist group's leaders killed themselves in prison and Schleyer was found murdered.

Schmidt later said "I was prepared to resign" if the Mogadishu operation had gone wrong.

Schmidt's early life was controversial in that he was the son of a half-Jewish teacher who joined the Hitler Youth when his rowing team was included in the Nazi youth group.

However, he was suspended at the age of 17 "probably because my griping got on their nerves".

He served in World War II and said that, as a young soldier, he had recognised the regime's lunacy but not, at first, its criminal nature.