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Why did the US decided to provide Western Europe with more than $13 billion in Marshall Plan?

Why did the US decided to provide Western Europe with more than $13 billion in Marshall Plan?

The war left a swath of destruction that crippled infrastructure and led to massive food shortages in the winter of 1946-1947. The US government feared that a hungry, devastated Europe might turn to communism (as China would do in 1949). Marshall proposed a plan to provide Europe with $13 billion in economic aid.

Why did the United States give money to Europe under the Marshall Plan?

The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. In addition to economic redevelopment, one of the stated goals of the Marshall Plan was to halt the spread communism on the European continent.

What is the purpose of the Marshall Plan?

The Marshall Plan (the Plan) and the European Recovery Program (ERP) that it generated involved an ambitious effort to stimulate economic growth in a despondent and nearly bankrupt post-World War II Europe, to prevent the spread of communism beyond the “iron curtain,” and to encourage development of a healthy and …

What are two reasons why the Marshall Plan succeeded?

The Marshall Plan and the Present 1

  • the expansion of European agricultural and industrial production;
  • the restoration of sound currencies, budgets, and finances in individual European countries; and.
  • the stimulation of international trade among European countries and between Europe and the rest of the world.

What was the purpose of the Marshall Plan was to?

The plan had two major aims: to prevent the spread of communism in Western Europe and to stabilize the international order in a way favorable to the development of political democracy and free-market economies. European reaction to Marshall’s speech was quick and positive.

What was the purpose of the Marshall Plan in 1948?

Marshall Plan, formally European Recovery Program, (April 1948–December 1951), U.S.-sponsored program designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European countries in order to create stable conditions in which democratic institutions could survive.

How did the Marshall Plan help Western Europe?

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative passed in 1948 to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $12 billion (nearly $100 billion in 2018 US dollars) in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II.

How much money did the US donate to the Marshall Plan?

During the four years the plan was in effect, the United States donated $17 billion (equivalent to $204.66 billion in 2020) in economic and technical assistance to help the recovery of the European countries that joined the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.

Who was involved in the creation of the Marshall Plan?

The Plan was largely the creation of State Department officials, especially William L. Clayton and George F. Kennan, with help from the Brookings Institution, as requested by Senator Arthur Vandenberg, chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Why did the US refuse to accept 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, under Soviet pressure (as was the case for Finland’s rejection) as doing so would allow a degree of US control over the communist economies.