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What was it?
• June 4 1947, US Secretary George C. Marshall gives speech
• Economic assistance for European countries to help them rebuild after damages faced in WWII.
• The USA would provide these countries with grants and loans to help them rebuild
• The Marshall Plan and European Recovery Program (ERP) was offered to all countries around Europe, including the Soviet Union
Impact and Outcomes
• The Soviets rejected the plan and pressured other Eastern European countries to do the same
• The Soviet was not keen on the thought of providing such economic assistance to Germany, the enemy which had recently invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa 1941)
• The pressure was successful and none of the Soviet satellites participated in the Marshall Plan
• The Soviet claimed that the Marshall Plan was really just “a plan for interference in the domestic affairs of other countries”
• However, the US ignored Soviet action and successfully established the Marshall Plan in 1948, providing funds for other countries
• The US argued that this was another indication from the Soviet to isolate Eastern Europe from the West and enforce its communist and totalitarian policies in that region
• However, from the Soviet’s perspective their intention to isolate Eastern Europe to the West was due to it’s desire to be free from American “economic imperialism” and domination
• Indicated that the Cold War tension between US and Russia were intensifying
Conclusion
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