Marshall plan

The Marshall plan was one of the plans to help the rebuilding of the Europe after the Second world war, officially known after its development like Programme of European re-establishment ( European Recovery Program or ERP ). The Plan Morgenthau which envisaged to make pay repairs by the Germany was drawn aside by the Truman administration: one remembered the disastrous effects of such a policy after the First World War (the question of German repairs partly had started a hyperinflation, had blocked the economic revival and had facilitated the seizure of power by the authoritarian regimes). The initiative was baptized, by the journalists, of the name of the American Secretary of State, the general George Marshall, who, at the time of a speech to the Université Harvard (June 5th 1947) exposed the will of the government of the the United States to contribute to the re-establishment of the Europe.

History

The President Harry Truman sign the Marshall plan the June 5th 1947.

Between 1947 and 1951, the the United States devote more than thirteen billion dollars the time (including eleven billion in gifts) with the re-establishment 16 European countries in answer to the European organization economic cooperation (OEEC, today OECD). The entire amount of the assistance corresponds to 100 billion dollars current, that is to say approximately 4% of the GNP during five years.

The Marshall plan whose launching was contemporary ISO in 1945 strongly encouraged the industrial standardization and the diffusion of a homogeneous of industrial development and commercial model.

The United States required of the States accepting the assistance several counterparts: initially that the European countries coordinate the expenditure of rebuilding within OEEC. The Americans thus contributed to the European co-operation., prelude to European construction (see the article on the EEC). Then, the United States required that the money serf to buy products of American industry. The European rebuilding, relatively fast, was largely stimulated by the American assistance.

The Marshall plan was rejected by the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries. Indeed, Stalin feared that the Marshall plan serf to conquer the glacis safety of the USSR. The insistence of the United States concerning the economic liberalization of the country profiting from the plan played certainly a part also: like specifies it the Doctrine Jdanov, each State was brought to to choose its camp . The year 1947 by this aspect is regarded as the beginning of the Cold war. In 1949 begins the Comecon binding the countries of the Europe of the East.

Context: the assessment of the Second world war

In 1945, most of the continent of Europe is devastated by the war: the Nazi S plundered the resources of France, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. The bombardments reduced in ashes many German cities (Dresden, Cologne, Berlin…) or Polish (Warsaw). London underwent the air war with excess and of the hundreds of thousands of residences were destroyed. In France, one does not count any more the cities martyrdoms (Le Havre, Brest…). Most of the channels, harbor infrastructures, bridges, railways are out of use. Many civilians are homeless person.

The situation of the United States is different: the American territory did not suffer damage (with share Pearl Harbor). The Agriculture, the gold reserves and the industrial infrastructures of this country are not affected and they had sold military material within the framework of the cash and curry in particular in France at the beginning of the conflict, which contributed to the economic raising of Europe.

The damming up (Truman doctrine) and the Cold war

According to the US government of the time, the dramatic situation in which were Europeans, worsened by the cold winters, constituted the compost favorable to the establishment of the Communisme. The Communist parties Italian and French gained electoral successes indeed. The doctrines of the president Harry Truman are founded on the damming up ( Containment ) of the Communism already strongly established in Eastern Europe.

The Plan was presented first once by the Secretary of State James F. Byrnes during a speech held with Stuttgart on September 6th, 1946. Moreover, the general Lucius D. Clay had asked for to the owner industry Lewis H. Brown to draw up an assessment of the economic situation in Germany and to evaluate the needs for the rebuilding.

The first financial aid arrived in Greece and Turkey in January 1947. The final plan was announced by Marshall on June 5th, 1947 in Harvard. 16 countries accepted financial aid, plus the West Germany as from 1949

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