 Brandt was dogged by scandals about serial adultery, and reportedly also struggled with alcohol and depression.There was also the economic fallout on West Germany of the 1973 oil crisis, which may seem to have given enough stress to finish off Brandt as the Chancellor.Guillaume had been an espionage agent for East Germany, who was supervised by Markus Wolf, the head of the 
Main Directorate for Reconnaissance ("Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung" or HVA—the foreign intelligence service) of the East German Ministry for State Security.