Marshall Plan Effect

The Marshall Plan: Soft Power and Its Effect On Post-War Europe
On the 2nd of December 1945 the second world war of the century comes to a close, leaving Europe weary, broken and in search of a way to rise from the ashes.
Britain, a former world superpower, lies amidst an economic crisis. Germany, the war’s aggressor, is left to pay billions of dollars in reparations and its industry is dismantled. France, with the German’s quick bypass of the Maginot Line, is left humiliated over its military blunders and quick surrender. Not to mention nearly all occupied countries being left with weak puppet governments unable to handle civilian unrest.
In light of the perilous situation in Europe, two new world superpowers emerge. The USSR, the Red Giant

American government officials, refusing to stand idle, scramble to find a solution to their growing communist counterpart’s creeping influence on the world.
On June 5, 1947, George Marshall, the American Secretary of State under President Truman, announced what was to become known as the European Recovery Program (ERP) or more commonly, the Marshall Plan. This plan was not only the blow that incapacitated the greedy hands of the Soviet Communist effect in Europe, but also one of the greatest and most successful examples of ‘soft power’ and the influence it has to change the course of history without the use of military might.
The term ‘soft power’ was coined towards the end of the 20th century by Joseph S. Nye, an acclaimed political scientist and former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. According to Nye, one’s capability of driving an agenda could be done through coercion, threats and force, a representation of ‘hard power’, or as a result of attraction, desirability and likableness, all of which are examples of ‘soft power’. As mentioned by the historian Edward Carr, power of opinion is not less persuasive than brute military force and economic

In fact this form of diplomacy has been used throughout history. Consider the Hellenistic influence of states in the Levant during the fourth and third century BCE through Alexander the Great’s conquests, or the British’s influence over colonial lands through culture and sport in the 19th century. ‘Soft power’ has been playing a powerful role in impacting and ultimately controlling peoples and cultures with public diplomacy at its core.
One of the key elements of ‘soft power’ is the ability to change the psyche of the public in the target country, thereby gaining favorable opinion and ultimately causing the people to push the agenda and affect their own government policy.
The Marshall Plan, using the idea of ‘soft power’ as its driving theory, was the American solution to an ever so delicate situation that had the potential to change the balance of political influence in the world. The European Recovery Program was suggested as a way to rebuild Europe without relying on the reparations of the defeated German people, as was tried at the end of the First World War yet failed miserably. The act was focused on using American money and influences to repair the crushed continent while demanding trade options solely with the American market to boost the American economy. This plan was presented to all European countries, the USSR included, and was formally accepted by sixteen of them. So as not to advance the American influence behind the walls of