Cold War mapped - '45-'91 ..
The Second World War had seen millions of Europeans killed or wounded, while towns and cities across the continent had been destroyed or heavily damaged by sustained aerial bombing that had sought to disrupt industrial production. National infrastructure ranging from transportation links to electricity supplies had also suffered, placing additional strain on food production and distribution.
Newly-appointed U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall believed that Europe’s economic recovery was of paramount importance to the United States’ long-term prosperity. Based on briefings from his staff, he also feared that the dire situation could act as a catalyst for Communism to spread westward.
Having failed to reach an agreement with Soviet diplomats regarding the economic future of Germany, the United States began to formulate its own proposals for European reconstruction. On the afternoon of 5 June 1947, Marshall delivered a speech in front of the Harvard Alumni Association in which he laid out his plan to provide American aid to Europe in order to achieve economic stability and, as a result, political stability.
Marshall originally intended the financial package to be available to all European nations but, under pressure from the USSR, the countries of the Eastern Bloc rejected the plan with the Soviet Foreign Minister referring to it as ‘dollar imperialism’. Consequently the Marshall Plan provided aid to 16 Western European nations, distributing more than $13 billion of aid over a four year period.
The
Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $12 billion (equivalent to $130 billion in 2019) in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of WW2. Replacing an earlier proposal for a Morgenthau Plan, it operated for four years beginning on April 3, 1948. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity, and prevent the spread of communism. The Marshall Plan required a reduction of interstate barriers, a dropping of many regulations, and encouraged an increase in productivity, as well as the adoption of modern business procedures.
The Marshall Plan aid was divided among the participant states roughly on a per capita basis. A larger amount was given to the major industrial powers, as the prevailing opinion was that their resuscitation was essential for the general European revival. Somewhat more aid per capita was also directed toward the Allied nations, with less for those that had been part of the Axis or remained neutral. The largest recipient of Marshall Plan money was the United Kingdom (receiving about 26% of the total), but the enormous cost that Britain incurred through the "Lend-Lease" scheme was not fully re-paid to the USA until 2006. The next highest contributions went to France (18%) and West Germany (11%). Some eighteen European countries received Plan benefits. Although offered participation, the Soviet Union refused Plan benefits, and also blocked benefits to Eastern Bloc countries, such as Hungary and Poland. The United States provided similar aid programs in Asia, but they were not part of the Marshall Plan.
Its role in the rapid recovery has been debated. The Marshall Plan's accounting reflects that aid accounted for about 3% of the combined national income of the recipient countries between 1948 and 1951, which means an increase in GDP growth of less than half a percent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_Plan .
Newly-appointed U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall believed that Europe’s economic recovery was of paramount importance to the United States’ long-term prosperity. Based on briefings from his staff, he also feared that the dire situation could act as a catalyst for Communism to spread westward.
Having failed to reach an agreement with Soviet diplomats regarding the economic future of Germany, the United States began to formulate its own proposals for European reconstruction. On the afternoon of 5 June 1947, Marshall delivered a speech in front of the Harvard Alumni Association in which he laid out his plan to provide American aid to Europe in order to achieve economic stability and, as a result, political stability.
Marshall originally intended the financial package to be available to all European nations but, under pressure from the USSR, the countries of the Eastern Bloc rejected the plan with the Soviet Foreign Minister referring to it as ‘dollar imperialism’. Consequently the Marshall Plan provided aid to 16 Western European nations, distributing more than $13 billion of aid over a four year period.
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| ERP expenditures by country |
The Marshall Plan aid was divided among the participant states roughly on a per capita basis. A larger amount was given to the major industrial powers, as the prevailing opinion was that their resuscitation was essential for the general European revival. Somewhat more aid per capita was also directed toward the Allied nations, with less for those that had been part of the Axis or remained neutral. The largest recipient of Marshall Plan money was the United Kingdom (receiving about 26% of the total), but the enormous cost that Britain incurred through the "Lend-Lease" scheme was not fully re-paid to the USA until 2006. The next highest contributions went to France (18%) and West Germany (11%). Some eighteen European countries received Plan benefits. Although offered participation, the Soviet Union refused Plan benefits, and also blocked benefits to Eastern Bloc countries, such as Hungary and Poland. The United States provided similar aid programs in Asia, but they were not part of the Marshall Plan.
The reconstruction plan, developed at a meeting of the participating European states, was drafted on June 5, 1947. It offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, but they refused to accept it, as doing so would allow a degree of US control over the communist economies. In fact, the Soviet Union prevented its satellite states (i.e., East Germany, Poland, etc.) from accepting. Secretary Marshall became convinced Stalin had no interest in helping restore economic health in Western Europe.
President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan on April 3, 1948, granting $5 billion in aid to 16 European nations. During the four years the plan was in effect, the United States donated $17 billion (equivalent to $202.18 billion in 2019) in economic and technical assistance to help the recovery of the European countries that joined the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. The $17 billion was in the context of a US GDP of $258 billion in 1948, and on top of $17 billion in American aid to Europe between the end of the war and the start of the Plan that is counted separately from the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was replaced by the Mutual Security Plan at the end of 1951; that new plan gave away about $7.5 billion annually until 1961 when it was replaced by another program.
The ERP addressed each of the obstacles to postwar recovery. The plan looked to the future and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reducing artificial trade barriers, and instilling a sense of hope and self-reliance.
By 1952, as the funding ended, the economy of every participant state had surpassed pre-war levels; for all Marshall Plan recipients, output in 1951 was at least 35% higher than in 1938. Over the next two decades, Western Europe enjoyed unprecedented growth and prosperity, but economists are not sure what proportion was due directly to the ERP, what proportion indirectly, and how much would have happened without it.
President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan on April 3, 1948, granting $5 billion in aid to 16 European nations. During the four years the plan was in effect, the United States donated $17 billion (equivalent to $202.18 billion in 2019) in economic and technical assistance to help the recovery of the European countries that joined the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation. The $17 billion was in the context of a US GDP of $258 billion in 1948, and on top of $17 billion in American aid to Europe between the end of the war and the start of the Plan that is counted separately from the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was replaced by the Mutual Security Plan at the end of 1951; that new plan gave away about $7.5 billion annually until 1961 when it was replaced by another program.
The ERP addressed each of the obstacles to postwar recovery. The plan looked to the future and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reducing artificial trade barriers, and instilling a sense of hope and self-reliance.
By 1952, as the funding ended, the economy of every participant state had surpassed pre-war levels; for all Marshall Plan recipients, output in 1951 was at least 35% higher than in 1938. Over the next two decades, Western Europe enjoyed unprecedented growth and prosperity, but economists are not sure what proportion was due directly to the ERP, what proportion indirectly, and how much would have happened without it.
Its role in the rapid recovery has been debated. The Marshall Plan's accounting reflects that aid accounted for about 3% of the combined national income of the recipient countries between 1948 and 1951, which means an increase in GDP growth of less than half a percent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgenthau_Plan .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov_Plan .
Marshall Plan ..
48-4-3 Marshall Plan ..
