The Effect Of The Marshall Plan On Western Europe

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 evidence for this comes from Rep. Charles W. Vursell wrote, “...20,000,000 that you would waste in the Marshall Plan, and spend them here at home in building the strongest air force.. in the world.” (Vursell, 1, 1947) Using this, is clear that the Marshall Plan is effective because the U.S. would loan more money on other countries instead of using it here at home.

Following World War II, all of Europe was left in a clutter of disarray. Instead of watching Europe endure the hardships left from the war, the United States went to Europe’s aid. From 1947 to 1952, European nations experienced a time of massive growth. The Marshall Plan called for the nations of Europe to draw up a program for economic and political recovery from the war. The plan was a response to American concerns that communist parties were growing stronger across Europe and that the Soviets might intervene. The Marshall Plan also reflected the belief that US aid for European economic recovery would create strong democracies and open new markets for American goods. After World War II, The European Recovery Program was instrumental in economically

The U.S. helped Europe gain economic stability after World War II by paying them over 13 billion dollars. By them doing this, they were helping the two continents recover from the damage that they suffered from the last world war. According to document 3, which states, "...the United States should do whatever it can to help restore normal economic health to the world.", communism is not the standard form of government and should not spread as if it is. The whole idea of the Marshall Plan is trouble because the United States was basically trying to gain control over the European

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

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

The reason for the Marshall Plan was that Europe was in desperate need of repair. There was mass homelessness across Europe and

The Marshall Plan was significant because it rebuilt Europe and helped in the policy of containment, stopping the spread of communism. It also caused the countries the US helped to trade with the US, helping the US eventually make up the money and be rich.

In any case, the Marshall Plan additionally supported the U.S. economy in light of the fact that the taking an interest European countries spent the vast majority of the dollars to purchase American items and Europe 's financial recuperation made new markets and open doors for American venture.

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

This drove individuals to live in dread over a conceivable war, because of the event of other wars starting in such a way. The United States knew rivaling the USSR would not prevent socialism from spreading. President Truman proposed the Containment Policy. with this arrangement the American Nation would helper individuals who were being compelled to ended up Soviet Satellites or eastern square countries. The arrangement begun with Greece and turkey. At President Truman's proposal they were given 400 million dollars in associate. The nation in which majority rule government started, (Greece), sat tight law based, and also Turkey. Not long after the accomplishment with the Containment arrangement, America's Secretary of state achieved another arrangement, the Marshall Plan. In the Marshall Plan, The United States helped nations, who after the war should have been remade financially, socially, and politically. Marshal said "It's reason for existing is to restore a working economy in the World". He knew socialism appeared to be the main alternative to nations who were shaky. In spite of the fact that 13 billion dollars was put into this arrangement, it was considered cash well spent.

Later in that year the European countries were hit with a harsh winter that cause an abundance of issues from famine to the stop of coal production, and the factories closing.  This caused great concern for US official 's as they feared a people who were hungry and in need would be easily persuaded to follow an uprising of a communist regime as seen in the previous war with Hitler.  The Secretary of State at the time General George Marshall came up with a plan that we should aid countries in dire need. He wanted to the assist hurting countries to the return of economic health, which he says without it there could be no political stability and no peace.  In Marshalls Speech he stated "Our

Famine and unemployment, coupled with the near destruction of the continent’s infrastructure left Europe on the brink of economic collapse and starvation. America began supplying financial aid to Europe immediately after the end of the war, George C. Marshall developed the first piece of foreign policy that would serve to not only assist in the rebuilding of Europe, but also counter the growing communist influence on the continent. “Marshall was convinced the key to restoration of political stability lay in the revitalization of national economies. Further he saw political stability in Western Europe as a key to blunting the advances of communism in that region.” http://marshallfoundation.org/marshall/the-marshall-plan/history-marshall-plan/

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.

The United Sates also passed the Economic Cooperation Act just prior to the currency reform. The Economic Cooperation Act was able to provide funding that exceeded over twelve billion dollars to rebuild Western Europe including West Germany. The Marshall Plan was designed for all of Western Europe, but would find that it had an effect on the German Economy and again build a foundation for West Germany to begin its reconstruction process. The Marshall Plan would only contribute to about two billion dollars up to 1954 for West Germany and only contribute about five percent of the German National