Excerpt from Ronald Reagan’s Speech at the Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987
In the Philippines, in South and Central America, democracy has been given a rebirth. Throughout the Pacific, free markets are working miracle after miracle of economic growth. In the industrialized nations, a technological revolution is taking place—a revolution marked by rapid, dramatic advances in computers and telecommunications.
In Europe, only one nation and those it controls refuse to join the community of freedom. Yet in this age of redoubled economic growth, of information and innovation, the Soviet Union faces a choice: It must make fundamental changes, or it will become obsolete.
Today thus represents a moment of hope. We in the West stand ready to cooperate with the East to promote true openness, to break down barriers that separate people, to create a safe, freer world. And surely there is no better place than Berlin, the meeting place of East and West, to make a start. Free people of Berlin . . .
As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: "This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality." Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.
Use the excerpt from Ronald Reagan’s speech at the Brandenburg Gate to answer the question.
Which sequence of events inspires and fulfills Reagan’s predictions?
A.
Tiananmen Square demonstrations, rise of Solidarity in Poland, unification of East and West Germany, Russian Revolution
B.
Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika, INF Treaty, Velvet Revolution, unification of East and West Germany, collapse of the USSR
C.
Reagan’s Star Wars initiative, the Iran–Contra Affair, rise of Solidarity in Poland, fall of the Berlin Wall, the election of Boris Yeltsin
D.
disaster at Chernobyl, Reagan–Gorbachev summits, formation of the Russian Federation, withdrawal of Soviets from Eastern Europe