What was the Marshall Plan? (also known as Marshall Aid)

Origins of Marshall Plan

• General George Marshall, American Secretary of State
• Assessment of Europe’s economic needs = Europe owed US, $11.5 billion
• Shortages of goods & fuel
• Rationing, e.g. Britain, 1947 power cuts
• Churchill, ‘a rubble heap, a breeding ground of hate’

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General George Marshall, uncompromising US Sec. of State

Berlin, Germany

Aims of the Marshall Plan

• Stop spread of Communism
• Help economies of Europe recover
• Provide a market for American goods
• Provide $17 billion to rebuild European prosperity

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How successful was the Plan?

• About $12-13 billion dollars were poured into Europe
• 16 European countries accepted aid (all non-Communist)
• Stalin banned the Marshall Plan for the USSR and banned countries allied with them from accepting it as well

Why would Stalin want to ban Marshall Aid?

How successful was the Marshall Plan?

• Rejected by Stalin as ‘dollar imperialisation’
• Unacceptable to Soviet pride
• Warsaw 1947, Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) created to protect communist states from US ‘aggression’

 As a class….

How far do you feel each side was to blame for the increasing tension about the spread of communism immediately after WWII? Decide where you would put the USA & USSR on the scale below. State your reasons why.

Mostly to blame

Not to blame

People who blame the USSR say…

• Historic tensions= Hitler-Stalin pact, 1939
• Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe & setting up of Communist governments
• Rejection of Marshall Aid
• Formation of Cominform
• Red army, development of own nuclear weapons (Cold War!)

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People who blame the US say…

• They gave support for anti-Communists during War
• Anti-Communist stance of Truman
• Development of atomic bomb
• Iron curtain speech- we must stop communism from spreading!
• Truman Doctrine & Marshall Aid
• Ideological differences (US capitalist democracy)