History of the United States II / Unit 16 USH2 2283 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Tear Down This Wall
Captions available
The idea
In a speech at the Berlin Wall in nineteen eighty-seven Reagan declared: General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, tear down this wall.
In practice
The Yawp's judgement that Reagan combined anti-Communist rhetoric with a willingness to negotiate.
Where people slip
The Yawp adds that the most significant causes of the Soviet collapse lay within the Soviet empire itself.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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