Europe would not be the same without the Marshall plan set to take place on 1948 after World War 2. Investment In Peace
In 1948 secondary of state George C. Marshall issued a call for rebuilding Europe after the destruction of World War Two, To what extent did the Marshall plan influence Europe?
Extended Essay in History
Word Count: ?
International School of Stavanger
Stavanger, Norway
Examination session:
?
Advisor: Dr. Brown
Abstract
Rebuilding Europe was not easy; with the support of the United States of America (USA) there was a better recovery after World War Two (WW2). After WW2 was over Europe was in sheer destruction, rebuilding itself within them selves would be a long process, putting Europe behind other nations. The importance of the Marshall plan is that Europe was able to improve their infrastructure, market and industry
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As seen in history before when there is a struggle in the economy many will turn to a more radical solution, such as communism. In 1946 one-fourth of the French had voted for communism and in Italy, the communist controlled one-third of the public voting. President Truman knew that if Europe could not be rebuilt soon then communism would make its way towards the west. Due to these fears of spreading communism, USA wanted to help establish a better political stability before communism would increase. Infrastructure such as railways, bridges, docks and housing had been targeted by airstrikes, which had made the process of continuing work much harder. With the destruction of transportation left many economically isolated. All of these problems could not be remedied easily; due to most nations had used up their funds while engaging in war. As USA and Canada had the least damage from the outcome of the war their economy was seeing a decrease in exported and imported goods causing there economy to weaken