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Marshall Plan1
Marshall Plan1
History.com Editors
Contents
1. Europe After World War II
2. What Was the Marshall Plan?
5. Sources
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. It was enacted
in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the
continent. The brainchild of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, for whom it was
named, it was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure
heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors
– as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.
In addition to economic redevelopment, one of the stated goals of the Marshall Plan was to
halt the spread communism on the European continent.
Implementation of the Marshall Plan has been cited as the beginning of the Cold War
between the United States and its European allies and the Soviet Union, which had
effectively taken control of much of central and eastern Europe and established its satellite
republics as communist nations.
The Marshall Plan is also considered a key catalyst for the formation of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance between North American and European
countries established in 1949.
Many cities, including some of the leading industrial and cultural centers of Great Britain,
France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, had been destroyed. Reports provided to Marshall
suggested that some regions of the continent were on the brink of famine because
agricultural and other food production had been disrupted by the fighting.
In addition, the region’s transportation infrastructure – railways, roads, bridges, and ports –
had suffered extensive damage during airstrikes, and the shipping fleets of many countries
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had been sunk. In fact, it could easily be argued that the only world power not structurally
affected by the conflict had been the United States.
The reconstruction coordinated under the Marshall Plan was formulated following a
meeting of the participating European states in the latter half of 1947. Notably, invitations
were extended to the Soviet Union and its satellite states.
However, they refused to join the effort, allegedly fearing U.S. involvement in their
respective national affairs.
President Harry Truman signed the Marshall Plan on April 3, 1948, and aid was distributed
to 16 European nations, including Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany
and Norway.
To highlight the significance of America’s largesse, the billions committed in aid effectively
amounted to a generous 5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product at the time.
Still, not all participating nations benefitted equally. Nations such as Italy, who had fought
with the Axis powers alongside Nazi Germany, and those who remained neutral (e.g.,
Switzerland) received less assistance per capita than those countries who fought with the
United States and the other Allied powers.
The notable exception was West Germany: Though all of Germany was damaged
significantly toward the end of World War II, a viable and revitalized West Germany was
seen as essential to economic stability in the region, and as a not-so-subtle rebuke of the
communist government and economic system on the other side of the “Iron Curtain” in East
Germany.
In all, Great Britain received roughly one-quarter of the total aid provided under the
Marshall Plan, while France was given less than one fifth of the funds.
And, despite the significant investment on the part of the United States, the funds provided
under the Marshall Plan accounted for less than 3 percent of the combined national
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incomes of the countries that received them. This led to relatively modest growth of GDP in
these countries during the four-year period the plan was in effect.
That said, by the time of the plan’s last year, 1952, economic growth in the countries that
had received funds had surpassed pre-war levels, a strong indicator of the program’s
positive impact, at least economically.
It’s worth noting, too, that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the secret service agency of
the United States, received 5 percent of the funds allocated under the Marshall Plan. The
CIA used these funds to establish “front” businesses in several European countries that were
designed to further U.S. interests in the region.
The agency also, allegedly, financed an anti-communist insurgency in Ukraine, which at the
time was a Soviet satellite state.
By and large, though, the Marshall Plan was generally lauded for the desperately needed
boost it gave America’s European allies. As the designer of the plan, George C. Marshall
himself said, “Our policy is not directed against any country, but against hunger, poverty,
desperation and chaos.”
Still, efforts to extend the Marshall Plan beyond its initial four-year period stalled with the
beginning of the Korean War in 1953. The countries that received funds under the plan
didn’t have to repay the United States, as the monies were awarded in the form of grants.
However, the countries did return roughly 5 percent of the money to cover the
administrative costs of the plan’s implementation.
Source: Editors, History.com. “Marshall Plan.” History, updated: August 21, 2018,
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/marshall-plan-1
memberikan bantuan ke Eropa Barat setelah kehancuran Perang Dunia II. Itu
diberlakukan pada tahun 1948 dan menyediakan lebih dari $ 15 miliar untuk
membantu mendanai upaya pembangunan kembali di benua itu. Gagasan Menteri
Luar Negeri AS George C. Marshall, untuk siapa namanya, itu dibuat sebagai
rencana empat tahun untuk merekonstruksi kota, industri, dan infrastruktur
yang rusak parah selama perang dan untuk menghilangkan hambatan perdagangan
antara tetangga Eropa - juga sebagai perdagangan asuh antara negara-negara
tersebut dan Amerika Serikat.
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Selain pembangunan kembali ekonomi, salah satu tujuan Marshall Plan adalah
menghentikan penyebaran komunisme di benua Eropa.
Pelaksanaan Rencana Marshall telah dikutip sebagai awal dari Perang Dingin
antara Amerika Serikat dan sekutu Eropa dan Uni Soviet, yang telah secara
efektif menguasai sebagian besar Eropa tengah dan timur dan mendirikan
republik satelitnya sebagai negara-negara komunis.
Rencana Marshall juga dianggap sebagai katalisator kunci untuk pembentukan
Organisasi Perjanjian Atlantik Utara (NATO), aliansi militer antara negara-
negara Amerika Utara dan Eropa yang didirikan pada tahun 1949.
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Menariknya, dalam beberapa dekade sejak penerapannya, manfaat ekonomi yang
sebenarnya dari Marshall Plan telah menjadi bahan perdebatan. Memang,
laporan pada saat itu menunjukkan bahwa, pada saat rencana tersebut
diberlakukan, Eropa Barat sudah berada di jalan menuju pemulihan.
Dan, terlepas dari investasi yang signifikan di pihak Amerika Serikat, dana
yang disediakan di bawah Rencana Marshall menyumbang kurang dari 3 persen
dari pendapatan nasional gabungan negara-negara yang menerimanya. Hal ini
menyebabkan pertumbuhan PDB yang relatif rendah di negara-negara ini selama
periode empat tahun rencana tersebut diberlakukan.
Meskipun demikian, pada saat rencana tersebut dibuat tahun 1952,
pertumbuhan ekonomi di negara-negara yang menerima dana telah melampaui
tingkat sebelum perang, indikator yang kuat dari dampak positif program
tersebut, setidaknya secara ekonomi.