The Pros And Cons Of The Marshall Plan

Marshall Plan- The Marshall Plan was a plan on financial aid created by the United States. This plan was proposed by George Marshall, the United States Secretary of State. The Marshall Plan, also known as the Europe Recovery Program, was implemented from 1948 to 1951. The Plan was created to help restore Europe’s economy after WWI. The Marshall Plan was important because it helped restore Europe’s economy and stopped the spread of Soviet communism

The plan would create and make stronger allies, it would also rebuild war-torn countries from World War Two. The Marshall Plan is a part of the Truman administration. It distributed over thirteen billion dollars to Western Europe in three years. Western Europe needed to be rebuilt so that it was

Truman gave his iconic Truman Doctrine speech in front of a joint session of congress. This speech outlined the broad strokes of the Truman Doctrine as well as marked the declaration of the Cold War as well as sets the direction of American foreign policy for the next 40 years. Truman used this speech which was broadcast on the radio across the country as a form of going public to help his doctrine pass through congress. The Truman Doctrine finically aided Greece and Turkey in their ongoing war against communism as well as established Truman’s containment policy towards communism. A year later in 1948 when Truman planned to spread a program much like the Truman Doctrine across Europe in the form of the European Recovery Program. Truman knew that due to his high unfavorable rates he would need to use bargaining this time instead of going public to enact his plan. The Marshall plan is born with Truman recruits popular Secretary of State General George C. Marshall to be the face of the plan in order to garner support. While Marshall was the face of the plan Truman worked diligently behind the scenes to garner support for the plan from republicans. The Marshall Plan ultimately passed and in the end sent 13 million dollars in relief funds to Europe to aid in rebuilding from World War II in addition to holding at bay the treat of communism spreading. Truman became a shining example of how going public and bargaining both of there place in the

The speech was created primarily Charles Bohlen, a Soviet expert and Marshall’s special assistant, and later revised by Marshall. Department officials, including George Kennan and William Clayton saw the Marshall Plan as a way of restricting Communist growth in Europe, by strengthening the struggling democratic European nations . After the end of WWII in 1945, the majority of Europe was in ruins; over a third of the European industry was destroyed by the war, resulting in weak economies, and millions of people unemployed and starving, causing low morale. As economies were not improving at a rapid enough pace, combined with high unemployment and a hungry population, people started to look for change. Communism began to look promising, and was becoming increasingly popular in Europe through rebels and partisans. In an attempt confine the spread of Communism, Marshall was sent to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin. Initially, Stalin welcomed the possibility of Soviet participation in a U.S funded European reconstruction program. However, Stalin opposed the “idea of a coordinated multilateral aid programme, which was seen to threaten the Soviet political and economic position in Eastern Europe”, and withdrew all support and insisted that

After World War II, a state of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union took place from 1945 to 1991. Although these two nations had previously fought as allies their relationship quickly took a turn for the worst when the argument had risen over whether communism or democracy was the right way of government. The Soviet Union was determined to spread communism all over the world but The United States did everything in their power to try and stop it. Over the course of the Cold War the US gained much potential and power due to their efforts to dominate over the USSR. One of the main reasons the US gained power was because of the Marshall Plan that was signed off by president Truman in 1948. This Plan was devised as a way

1. The three sources of tension between the United states and the Soviet Union from the end of the Second World War to the Marshall Plan are religious conflict, commercial expansion, and the consolidation of dynastic power that transformed Europe. United States and the Soviet Union both wanted to expand their territories with strong military and power. The Marshall Plan dealt with the social issues which helped aid Western Europe economy. However, from the experience of World War II, U.S. policy makers came to the decision that no hostile state can be allowed to gain control over the populations, territories, and resources of Europe and East Asia. Americans in the United States developed stronger military naval bases where they wanted to increase

“The originally propagated view that the Marshall Plan was an altruistic endeavour … has long been dismissed.” Instead, “The overwhelming body of literature looks at the Marshall Plan either from a political and diplomatic or from an economic viewpoint.” Overall, the Plan was primarily motivated by the former, rather, than the later, albeit both were heavily intertwined. This is because containment and a fear of Soviet expansion categorised US foreign policy for much of the postwar period, with economic considerations being the method used, to enact this policy of containment.

The Marshall Plan has been fruitful.All trusts/funds sent to Europe have been used for their proposed purposes.Almost all vast Western Eurpoean Countries have profited from this arrangement.

World War II shocked and dismantled many Eastern European countries leaving Europe in a state of shock, with many unanswered, open ended questions. Buildings were blown up, streets cracked, people slaughtered, and governments destroyed. As turmoil struck Eastern Europe, an opportunity arose for a new political system to come into power. However, this process is never a simple one; two common political ideologies fought to control the heart of Europe. Capitalism led by the Western Allies, funded by the United States Marshall Plan, spread providing a short time of economic prosperity. The American’s plan however could not venture as far east as West Germany with Moscow’s direction of Communism led by Joseph Stalin and he took over a large portion of Eastern Europe with many open statements and empty promises. These two ideologies caused an enlarged time of tension stemming from the drastically different values they were known to embrace, leading to a horrific time known as the cold war.

In June 1947, Secretary of State Marshall offered economic aid to the nations of Europe, including the Soviet Union, to help them rebuild their economies after all the destruction during World War II (Brands 655). This was offered to bring stability to the nations of Europe so that they could deter the Soviet Union from invading. The Soviet Union and its satellites denied the aid offered by the Soviet Union, but all the other nations of Europe requested $17 billion in aid from the United States, and the Marshall Plan “generated an industrial revival in Western Europe that became self-sustaining by the 1950s” (Brands 655-656). The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan showed that the United States was willing to spend as much money as was needed to protect the capitalistic west and contain communism.

In June 1947, the United States announced the Marshall Plan, intended to help economic recovery in Europe and thus prevent the spread of Communism in a Europe that was increasingly becoming “a breeding ground of hate”, thus providing a comforting environment for the rise of the Marxist ideology. At first, the Marshall Plan seemed to be a success, with economic aid worth $17 billion being made available to Europe and ensuring the protection of democratic governments in Turkey and Greece. Marshall Aid did help economic recovery in Europe, erasing unemployment and improving living standards greatly. Most Western European nations were happy to accept American aid in order to redevelop their economies. However, Stalin forbade any Eastern European countries from accepting the Plan and setup organizations like the Cominform and Comecon instead, to further tighten Stalin’s grip over Eastern Europe.

There was many people and U.S officials that did not support the agreement. Roosevelt felt that he had no more power or time to do anything else since the Soviet army was controlling Poland. Later on in the years the Cold War began, followed by the Yalta Conference. Many enemies thought that Roosevelt was selling out at the Yalta Conference and let Staling have whatever he wanted. However, what the critics don’t realize is that Roosevelt had no choice but to let Stalin have his way.

Joseph Stalin made it clear that he wanted a complete and total annihilation of Hitler’s army. Stalin uses examples of other successful armies that have later been defeated. This is used as an example to show that even though Hitler’s army is strong, they can still be defeated. Stalin’s uses the threat of slavery and death to convince the people of Russia to stand up and fight against Hitler. His approach was ruthless and cold.

First and foremost, a great deal of Europe’s success would not have happened without its initial aid from the United States. After helping destroy so much of the continent, the U.S. pumped billions and billions of dollars back into the European economy through The Marshall Plan. It was named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who said “The world of suffering people looks to us for leadership. Their thoughts, however, are not concentrated alone on this problem. They have more immediate and terribly pressing concerns where the mouthful of food will come from, where they will find shelter tonight, and where they will find warmth. Along with the great problem of maintaining the peace we must solve the

The "Marshall Plan" created by United States Secretary of State George Marshall and the "Molotov Plan" created by Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov were