The political and military tension between the United States of America and the Soviet Union soon after the end of the Second World War made it necessary for the United States to spread its influence in Europe. Most of the European countries in both the Allied and Axis forces had been devastated by the war, and their economies were crippled. The United States was concerned that in the event of another major war, most of the nations that were capable of giving it the necessary support would either be too weak to fight or join the new enemy, the Soviet Union.
As such, the government, under the leadership of President Harry Truman needed a plan that would help strengthen its allies in Europe. The plan also had to ensure that these nations would support the United States in case it went to war with the Soviet Union. After a wide consultation among the top government officials and other technocrats, a plan was hatched. It was proposed that the government should come up with an economic relief plan to help its allies in Europe to develop their economies that had been destroyed during the war.
The plan was taken to the Congress, which was dominated by Republicans at that time, as Economic Corporation Bill.1 The government, led by the Democrats, had to convince the Congress that the plan would have direct benefits to the country and its strategic allies in Europe. It was passed by both houses and later renamed Marshall Plan in reference to George Marshall, who was then the Secretary of State.
The Marshall Plan outlined a number of benefits that were to be granted to nations around the world, which were adversely affected by the Second World War. Given that the world was still gripped by fear of the possibility of another major war, the United States did not want to create tension by Balkanizing the world using this plan. As such, the plan stated that all the nations that were affected by the war would receive some form of financial aid to help them in their economic recovery.
The government of the United States invited the Soviet Union- the other superpower and its archenemy- to participate in this economic recovery plan. The government knew very well that the Soviet Union would reject the plan because of a number of fundamental reasons. The Soviet Union, unlike the United States, was affected adversely by the war, just like many other European nations. It emerged as a world power militarily, but economically it was struggling.
Accepting the invitation to participate in the recovery plan would require it to make financial contributions equivalent to that of the United States to have equal bargaining power. It lacked this capacity. The Soviet Union was also not comfortable being part of a plan that had been developed by the United States. As was expected by the United States, the Soviet Union rejected the plan. However, the United States was determined to proceed with the economic stimulus plan with or without the support and approval of the Soviet Union.2
In this plan, the United States set aside $13 billion (an equivalent of $ 130 billion today) to be distributed fairly among the affected countries, including nations outside Europe, such as Japan.3 In spirit, the top government officials were keen on supporting its allies in West Europe to recover economically and militarily so that in case of war, they would be in a better position to support the United States. This was not just a reward meant for every single nation irrespective of their allegiances during the war.
It was meant for the nations loyal to the United States. It was meant to help spread the influence of the United States in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. The Soviet Union knew about this plan and had to act to protect its sphere of influence. The Soviets knew that they lacked military and economic power to stop the United States from implementing the plan. However, they knew that they had the capacity to restrict the United States from infiltrating into its sphere of influence. As such, it prohibited the implementation of the plan in countries that were under its control, especially the Eastern Bloc countries, which included Poland and East Germany.
The United States was comfortable with the restrictions because it was not ready to help countries that may turn against it in case a major war broke out. The Soviet Union’s restriction was a perfect excuse to ignore these countries, although they were faced with serious economic problems.
The manner in which the plan was implanted left no doubt about the intentions of the United States to curtail the influence of the Soviet Union, and communism in general, in Western Europe. The first countries to receive the financial aid were Turkey and Greece, although they were not the major allies targeted by this plan. The United States believed that these were the front line nations in the fight against communism.4 The aid was to ensure that they remained loyal to the United States and its allies.
The aid was then spread to entire Western Europe, with strategic partners receiving most of this aid. The United Kingdom, believed to be the most strategically of the United States, received 26% of the total amount that was set out in this plan. France, another strategic partner, received 18%. Germany was a strategic country both to the United States and the Soviet Union. However, it had been divided into two, with the United States controlling West Germany and the Soviet Union East Germany.
The United States had no choice but to limit its aid to West Germany. It made a significant contribution of 11% of the plan’s total budget to help spur growth in West Germany. This was a strategic move that was meant to convince the Germans- both in East and West- that it was better to align with the United States than the Soviet Union because of the financial benefits.5
The Marshall plan had a massive impact on the influence of the United States in Europe and, by extension, the rest of the world. It was successful in fighting communism that the Soviet Union was trying to spread around the world. Scholars have argued that it was this plan that handed the United States the victory in spreading capitalism in Europe and around the world, including in the Soviet Union itself as it later emerged.
By late 1948 and early 1949, countries that had benefitted from the plan were recording impressive economic recovery. On the other hand, countries that had remained loyal to the Soviet Union were still reeling from the effect of the Second World War.
The Marshall Plan clearly gave the impression that economic recovery could easily be achieved by accepting the aid, which meant aligning with the West. Yugoslavia, one of the countries that had previously rejected the plan, broke ranks with the Soviet Union and requested the aid despite being a member of the Eastern Bloc that was controlled by the Soviet Union. Keen on spreading its influence in East Europe, the United States went ahead and offered it the much-needed aid.6
The United States had everything well planned, and it was keen to ensure that its primary aim of forming a strong economic and military alliance in Europe against the Soviets was a success. Once the beneficiaries of this plan were convinced of its relevance, the United States went ahead and formed an economic bloc that was named Organization for European Economic Corporation, later renamed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.7
The primary objective of the organization, as stated during its formation, was to help in coordinating the financial aid and economic development among the participating countries. However, the United States knew that it was developing a strong military and economic alliance capable of destroying Russia in case the two countries had to go to war. It laid a perfect ground for the United States and allies to form North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance that required member countries to work as a unit in times of war. The organization was formed in 1949 at a time the implementation of Marshall Plan was in progress. It was this plan that helped the United States to remain the only superpower when the Cold War ended.
Bibliography
Arkes, Hadley. Bureaucracy, the Marshall Plan, and the National Interest. New York: Springer, 2012.
Lambers, William. The Spirit of the Marshall Plan: Taking Action against World Hunger, Expanding the Mcgovern-Dole Global School Feeding Program. New York: Lambers, 2007.
Marshall, Evan. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2001.
Reader, Capitol. Summary of the Noblest Adventure. Cork: Primento Digital, 2013.
Sørensen, Vibeke, and Mogens Rüdiger. Denmark’s Social Democratic Government and the Marshall Plan 1947-1950. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2001.
Footnotes
- Evan Marshall, The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing (Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2001), 34.
- Ibid, 33.
- William Lambers, The Spirit of the Marshall Plan: Taking Action against World Hunger, Expanding the Mcgovern-Dole Global School Feeding Program (New York: Lambers, 2007), 45.
- Hadley Arkes, Bureaucracy, the Marshall Plan, and the National Interest (New York: Springer, 2012), 44.
- Ibid, 65.
- Capitol Reader, Summary of the Noblest Adventure (Cork: Primento Digital, 2013), 87.
- Vibeke Sørensen and Mogens Rüdiger, Denmark’s Social Democratic Government and the Marshall Plan 1947-1950 (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2001), 21.