Marshall Plan: US Strategy to Rebuild Europe

The Marshall Plan and Its Consequences

As Winston Churchill announced, the division of Europe between the East, dominated by Soviet influence, and the West, sheltered by the United States, became increasingly evident. In 1947, the U.S. decided to follow the guidelines issued by the so-called Truman Doctrine, which began a series of international interventions aimed at halting the progress of communism. This was the beginning of the period of containment. One of the most significant mechanisms of this policy was the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan.

Enacted in 1948 by the United States Secretary of State, George Marshall, the plan was aimed at reviving the economies of European countries adhering to the American liberal capitalist ideology, i.e., almost all of Western Europe. In total, $13 billion was invested, mostly in Britain, France, Italy, and West Germany. The main purpose of this policy was to give new impetus to the economies of these countries and thereby raise the standard of living of their citizens. In this way, the risk of penetration of Communism, which spread more easily in environments of social discontent and frustration, would be reduced.

The Soviet Response: COMECON

The Soviet response was swift. Stalin, worried about the strength acquired by the US and the sympathy it could generate even within their own area of influence in Europe, decided to counter the effects of the U.S. program. Thus, in addition to forcing Eastern European states to reject the U.S. offer, he created COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). The project's purpose was to coordinate economic policies in Eastern Europe and establish mechanisms for aid and cooperation with the Soviet Union. The states of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania acceded to it. Later, Mongolia, Cuba, and Vietnam joined. This gave rise to the division that would mark Europe throughout the Cold War period in the second half of the twentieth century. East and West remained distant and marked by radically different policies and ideologies. The United States and the Soviet Union were intransigent when it came to compromising on their positions.