Marshall Plan – The European Recovery Program

The end of World War II brought Europe to a scene of devastation material accompanied by the death of thousands of people. The crisis of values ​​brought about by this problematic scenario has questioned what model of social and economic development could meet the demands of this wasteland. The old European powers seemed to have the opportunity to rise through a US-led world economy, or adopting the assumptions of Soviet socialism.

The new configuration of political-ideological character apparently double, would result after World War II, the first steps in the Cold War. The United States, the highest representative of the capitalist system, they realized that the instability could transform the European Old World into a new field of expansion of socialist and communist doctrines. Possible to contain this situation, the U.S. decided to establish the Marshall Plan.

The plan was known in March 1947, after a declaration of the Head of State, General George Catlett Marshall. Under the plan, a sum of 17 billion dollars would be released to European countries climb back to the economy. However, the nations of Eastern Europe converted to the socialist regime were not beneficiaries of that plan due to political intervention of Joseph Stalin. This episode left even more explicit the scenario of clear ideological split.

Generally, the money raised from the financial assistance scheme was used to purchase fuel, machinery, vehicles, raw materials, food, feed and fertilizer. Among the largest creditors of that action were to England (3.2 billion), France (2.7 billion), Italy (1.5 billion) and Germany (1.4 billion). This action was of great benefit to the United States, which developed its economy with the huge demand generated by European nations.

Soon, the goals of economic recovery have been achieved and a new cooperation agreement was established between the European capitalist bloc and the United States. Economic cooperation has been reconfigured for a new military cooperation agreement which aimed to confront any possible attack by the Soviet bloc. The so-called North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed an agreement on military aid between the countries belonging to the capitalist bloc.

The establishment of NATO did not mean the revival of the old political and economic supremacy of the Old World. From this military agreement, the United States aimed at ensuring the profits obtained from export of agricultural and industrial genres. In general, the Marshall Plan and NATO have established the political and economic hegemony of the U.S. in the world.