Option B: Twentieth century topic What was the real purpose of the Marshall Plan? Study the Background Information and the sources carefully, and then answer all parts of Question 2. Background Information By the end of the Second World War much of Europe was in desperate need of help. On 5 June 1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall announced the Marshall Plan. This offered Europe and the Soviet Union economic help. Some politicians at the time saw this simply as an unselfish gesture towards struggling countries. Others thought it was needed to stop the Soviet Union from gaining control or influence over more of Europe. Stalin saw it as an attempt to make Europe dependent on the USA, leading to American political control. American opponents of the Plan argued that its cost would damage the American economy. The US Congress did not agree to it until March 1948. How far was the Marshall Plan designed to protect Europe from the Soviet Union? SOURCE A The Marshall Plan cost the United States $17.6 billion. It was passed against heavy opposition in the United States. American isolationists resented having to spend American taxpayers' money on foreign countries that had failed to pay their previous debts from World War I. Businessmen did not want to reconstruct competitor European industries. Congressmen only wanted to give food, not loans. Nevertheless, the plan worked. It succeeded in part because it gained widespread political acceptance within the United States itself. The Marshall Plan formed the greatest voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another known to history. The Marshall Plan did not, by itself, cause Western European economic recovery but it helped Western Europe over a dangerous period. The plan gave new confidence to Western Europe; it provided money, food, fuel, and machinery when the Western European economies were in disarray. Above all, the Marshall Plan was designed to push Europeans toward political and economic cooperation. In terms of their own narrow self-interests, the Americans might have benefited from dealing separately with their European allies. In practice, the Americans looked forward to a new Western European economic association. The United States was both a supporter of a united Europe and also a role model. From an American website. SOURCE B The Marshall Plan was not designed as a disaster fund just to help Europe over the immediate post-war years. It was a long-term plan for recovery and growth. By 1952 it had cost the United States an enormous $13 billion. There was much opposition in the US. Truman only managed to get it through Congress because by March 1948 the communist coup in Czechoslovakia had taken place. This persuaded members of Congress that Marshall Aid would be an economic barrier to Soviet expansion. Even after this the USA was still split over the issue. The main aim of the Marshall Plan was not to rebuild European economies but to protect them from Soviet communism. In April 1947 the CIA had reported that 'the greatest danger to the security of the United States is economic collapse in western Europe and the Communists coming to power.' In the short term the Plan was successful. Between 1947 and 1951 the economies of western Europe rose by thirty per cent. This reduced the danger from communism. Its impact was also psychological. It made Europeans feel better about themselves and their future. In the longer run, the Americans failed to persuade the Europeans to cooperate in their economic planning. However, although the Marshall Plan was an economic programme, the crisis it avoided was political. From a recent account of the Marshall Plan. SOURCE C The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are examples of the way in which the principles of the United Nations are broken. The United States has moved towards using economic relief as an instrument of political pressure. The Marshall Plan is a variant of the Truman Doctrine. In this plan the United States requires countries in need of relief to renounce their right to plan their national economies in their own way. This makes them dependent on the interests of American monopolies. It is becoming clear to everyone that the Plan will mean placing European countries under the economic and political control of the United States, and direct interference in the internal affairs of those countries. Andrei Vyshinsky speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, 18 September 1947. Vyshinsky was the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister. SOURCE D [Figure 10.1] A cartoon published in an American newspaper, 4 January 1948. SOURCE E [Figure 11.1] A cartoon published in an American newspaper, 14 March 1948. SOURCE F [Figure 12.1] An illustration published by the British Government, 1948. SOURCE G The United States should do whatever it is able to help in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. Any government that blocks the recovery of other countries cannot expect help from us. Furthermore, governments, political parties, or groups which seek to prolong human misery in order to profit politically or otherwise, will encounter the opposition of the United States. From a speech by US Secretary of State George Marshall, announcing the Marshall Plan, June 1947. Now answer all parts of Question 2. You may use any of the sources to help you answer the questions, in addition to those sources which you are told to use. In answering parts (a)-(e) you should use your knowledge of the topic to help you interpret and evaluate the sources.