1.4.3

The Marshall Plan

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The Marshall Plan

In June 1947, the US Secretary of State George Marshall, revealed his European Recovery Plan.

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Announcement of the Marshall Plan, June 1947

  • In June 1947 American policy makers decided to become actively involved in Europe's economy.
  • They thought that an economically weak Europe would mean a breeding ground for communism and it would threaten the stability of Europe. The USA believed that if the Western economy was strengthened then fewer people would give their support to communism.

Beneficiaries of the Marshall Plan

  • The aid promised under the Marshall Plan was available to all of Europe but it was clear that it was in fact meant for the stability of Western Europe.
  • Between 1947-52 the Marshall Plan gave $13 billion to 16 countries in Europe. The vast majority went to Britain and France.
  • Financial aid was provided with certain conditions such as the purchasing of goods from the American market and the sharing of information.
  • Countries that joined the programme would become members of the Organisation of European Economic Cooperation.

Impact of the Marshall Plan in Eastern Europe

The Marshall plan was hated by the USSR who saw it as an attempt to show Imperialism.

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Yugoslavia

  • One beneficiary of Marshall aid was Yugoslavia. Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia challenged Stalin’s control over Southern and Eastern Europe. Tito had been a loyal communist yet this act of defiance saw him expelled from the Cominform.
  • Both Yugoslavia and the USA capitalised on Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Cominform and entered into an agreement that provided economic assistance to Yugoslavia through the Marshall plan.

Reaction of the USSR

  • Molotov stated that the Marshall plan showed ‘dollar imperialism’. Molotov thought that the USA was simply trying to gain control over Europe and exploit it.
  • Stalin didn’t want European countries to accept this aid. Countries that showed interest in the plan such as Czechoslovakia and Poland were ordered by Stalin to change their mind.
  • Stalin had already set up the Cominform as a block to Western influence but in 1949 he also set up the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance to establish a socialist economic bloc.
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Historical interpretations

  • Historians debate the extent to which European lifestyles and attitudes were 'Americanised' by the injection of American cash into the European economy by the Marshall Plan in 1947.
  • Historian V. De Grazia (2004) argues that the French leader Charles De Gaulle and many others were shocked and upset to find out in the 1950s that the biggest single economy in Europe was not any European nation but the total output of American corporations. Charles De Gaulle argued for nations to compete more against American firms.
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Historical interpretations cont

  • Historian V. De Grazia (2004) argues that when the common market was created in 1957 it was done so with the hope that a large market area would improve the international division of labour, give economies of scale and ultimately, improve the lot of the consumer. French economist Jean Monnet predicted that Europeans would achieve “the standard of American living within fifteen years."
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The 'Frenchification' of American culture

  • Historian R. Kuisel (1993) argues that there was selective adoption of elements of American culture in France in the 1950s. Where American culture was adopted, it was often adapted and 'Frenchified'.
    • The American drink Coca-Cola was served in French cafes, but more as an aperitif than a soft drink.
    • French kitchens were changed by a deluge of consumer products which used electricity, but these products were used to make French food.
    • Business people returning from the productivity programme in the US ignored a lot of what they had been taught about the human-relations approach to management and only adopted what was transferrable to them.

Jump to other topics

1Origins of the Cold War, 1945-9

2Widening of the Cold War

3The Global War

4Confrontation & Cooperation

5Brezhnev Era

6Ending of the Cold War

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