Although it happened on the other side of the world, the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union was very much the result of American foreign policy throughout the 1980s.

By shifting from detente to confrontation, the Reagan administration sped up the seemingly inevitable demise of the Soviet Union, increasing defense spending and confronting attempts at communist expansion across the Caribbean and Central America. By the end of the decade, the world was entering a new era that was both exciting and hopeful.

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Read on for the story of the 1970s in America, told through extraordinary images…

Incredible photos capturing America in the 1980s