He said that if elected president, his goal would be to rebalance the relationship with Germany, accusing Mr. Sarkozy of having bowed to Berlin throughout the crisis.

WSJ: Hollande and Sarkozy, Presidential Candidates, Spar in France

In this view, common in Paris, Berlin and Brussels, the crisis may have a beneficial side-effect if it makes America seek more equal relations with its European allies.

ECONOMIST: Europe and the United States

The response from Berlin is this: the crisis may be very grave (while we were there, the government issued its latest forecast that the economy will shrink by 6% over the coming year).

ECONOMIST: European politics

The idea that the world will be rebalanced after this crisis is not dismissed in Berlin.

ECONOMIST: European politics

The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 prompted a massive international crisis and meant that Parliament was recalled in October.

BBC: When Parliament has been recalled

However, he noted that they have been often criticized for their inability to foresee major events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 or the 2007 financial crisis.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

Yet, historians 400 years into the future would remember this past quarter century, Summers said, not for the global financial crisis or even the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the way that a third of humanity was lifted out of poverty and had their standards of living improved multifold.

FORBES: A Philosophical Larry Summers