Title: Marshall Plan: The US funded rebuild of Europe after World War II
Headings: Marshall Plan: The US funded rebuild of Europe after World War II
Marshall Plan: The US funded rebuild of Europe after World War II
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Content: Millions of people had become refugees and there were severe food shortages all over Europe. Although the Allies had won the War, it came at a great cost and the economy of every country in Europe was devastated. George Marshall
The United States did not want another war between European countries. They also did not want Communism to spread from the USSR. The American government, who had limited home front damage to rebuild and still had a wealthy economy decided the best solution to this threat would be to make Europe rich again so there would be no interest in the ideology of Communism, and also to make these countries politically stable and interconnected so there would be no threat of war again. Sixteen different countries received nearly $13 billion ($200 billion USD in today’s money)in aid from the United States from 1947 until 1951, firstly in the form of food aid and later in the form of investment in industries. The majority of the money went to the United Kingdom, France, Italy and West Germany. The Marshall Plan was rejected by the USSR because they felt it would mean that the United States would control these countries. They also disagreed with the plan because it would mean that there would be an interconnected European economy as a result of the aid and this went against their strict Communist ideology. As a result of this Soviet controlled countries including East Germany, Poland and Hungary.