18.1.8

The Marshall Plan

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The Marshall Plan (1947)

Using the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, the USA tried to contain communism (a policy called 'containment'). The Marshall Plan provided economic assistance to Europe.

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The Marshall Plan, 1947

  • The Marshall Plan was the economic aid that backed up the Truman Doctrine.
    • $13 billion was given by the USA to help rebuild Europe.
    • To receive money, countries had to trade with the USA.
  • The plan hoped to stop communism by giving countries and people a stake in the capitalist system.
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Who benefitted?

  • 16 Western European countries received aid, including:
    • France, West Germany and Britain.
    • However Stalin would not allow Eastern European countries to apply.
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The Soviet view

  • The Soviet Union saw the Truman Doctrine and the 1947 Marshall Plan as a threat to Eastern Europe.
    • They were an example of US “economic imperialism” (the USA trying to spread capitalism and dominate the world.)
  • This was a characterisation of the USA which continued for the rest of the Cold War.
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US view of the Marshall Plan

  • On the US side, politicians argued that the Soviets were trying to isolate Eastern Europe from the West and to force their communist ideals on countries which were in need of aid.
  • Europe became the ideological battleground between the two emerging superpowers: the USA and the USSR.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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