Title: What were the goals of the Marshall Plan? - eNotes.com
Headings: What were the goals of the Marshall Plan?
Marshall Plan
What were the goals of the Marshall Plan?
Expert Answers
Further Reading
We’ll help your grades soar

Content: Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. Alec Cranford
Educator since 2011
5,897 answers
| Certified Educator
Page Citation
Share Link
The Marshall Plan, which provided billions of dollars in aid to post-World War II Europe, had several objectives. The first was to assist in the rebuilding effort in these countries, whose economies, infrastructures, and governments had been left in shambles after the war. To that end, the US gave out almost 15 billion dollars in aid to these war-torn nations. This proved very effective in promoting recovery in the region. But the Soviet Union perceived the aid as an attempt at expanding American influence in the region, and it became a major source of tension between the two superpowers, especially as American dollars funded the West German economy and promoted remarkable economic recovery there. This, in fact, was a goal of the Plan. American leaders hoped that by promoting economic recovery, they might reduce the appeal of communism to people in the region. But the Marshall Plan had still another goal--to promote American economic growth. American investment and dollars created a market for American manufactured goods, helping to avert an economic downturn in the United States after the war.