After 17 years in opposition, the SPD became the junior partner in a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU which lasted from 1966 to 1969. After the 1969 federal election, the SPD's Willy Brandt became Chancellor in a coalition with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP). His government sought to normalise relations with East Germany and the Eastern Bloc, a policy known as "Ostpolitik". The party achieved its best ever result of 45.8% in 1972, one of only three occasions in which it formed the largest Bundestag faction. After Brandt's resignation in 1974, his successor Helmut Schmidt served as Chancellor until 1982, when the SPD returned to opposition. During the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany, the East German SPD was refounded. It merged with the West German party in 1990, shortly before German reunification.