Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schroder was born in Mossenberg, Lower Saxony. He graduated from the University of Gottingen with a law degree in 1971. While a youth, Schroder joined the Social Democratic Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD) and rose through the ranks to become the leader of the SPD's youth organization. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1980 and to the state legislature of Lower Saxony in 1986. After the 1990 elections, he became the state's leader through a coalition between the SPD and the Green Party. Schroder's position made him a member of the executive board of the SPD. In 1998, he was chosen as the party's candidate to be chancellor. Following the balloting, the SPD and the Greens formed a coalition government, and Schroder became the leader of Germany. In 1999, he also was appointed party chief of the SPD.

Once in office, Schroder endeavored to implement a number of domestic reforms to lower the country's high unemployment rate and bolster economic growth. However, many members of the SPD opposed his economic agenda. Throughout his chancellorship, unemployment remained at or above 10 percent. Schroder supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervention in Kosovo and deployed German troops as part of the multilateral peacekeeping mission. German forces also participated in the NATO operation in Macedonia. He worked with French president Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to further European integration and was a supporter of European Monetary Union and the adoption of the euro.

Schroder initially supported the administration of George W. Bush following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Germany and the United States enhanced intelligence sharing and law enforcement collaboration. In addition, Germany deployed troops as part of a NATO-led force in the Afghanistan intervention after the fall of the Taliban. However, Schroder opposed the detainment of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay and other aspects of Bush's management of the war on terror. Facing a difficult reelection bid in 2002, Schroder seized on public opposition to military action against Iraq as the cornerstone of his campaign. Schroder's use of Iraq as a campaign theme heightened tensions with the United States, especially after the minister of labor, Herta Dauber-Gmelin, compared Bush's policies to those of Adolf Hitler. Schroder won the election with a reduced majority. With the traditionally strong relationship between Berlin and Washington in decline, Schroder endeavored to enhance ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin. In 2005, the two leaders signed an agreement to construct a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea.

SPD losses in regional balloting led Schroder to call for early elections. In the 2005 polling, no party or coalition won an outright majority. The conservative Christian Democratic Party (Christlich Demokratische Union, CDU) won the largest number of votes and formed a grand coalition with the SPD, with CDU leader Angela Merkel as chancellor. Schroder refused to participate in the new government and subsequently resigned his seat in the Bundestag on 23 November 2005.

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