Us_Policy_of_Marshall_Based_on_Altruistic_Desire_to_Help_the_Economic_Recovery_of_Europe

Using these four passages and your own knowledge, assess the view that the US policy of Marshall in 1947 was motivated mainly by the altruistic desire to help the economic recovery of Europe. Interpretation A presents a sympathetic view to the USSR’s claim that the Marshall Plan was not the altruistic aim to reignite Europe’s economy that it seemed, it was in fact the imperialistic idea to spread capitalism through Europe and prevent the rise of communism. He supports this view when he states that “A main objective of the Marshall Plan had been to win the mouths and minds of the West European peoples so as to prevent them from turning communist”. Ever since World War Two the USSR and the USA had had a fragile relationship, mainly stemming from the delayed eventuality of the allies opening a second front to fight Nazi Germany, this poor relationship continued after the war with opposing views in communism and capitalism and how much influence they should have in Europe. The USA saw Russia as the next major threat to world peace which seemed to be true with the inevitability of the Cold War. The writer of Interpretation A, Michael Balfour, agrees with this statement as he believes that the only way the USA could defeat communism was with strong allies. Balfour argues that the Marshall plan had US military interests in mind by stating the plans intention was to “enable Britain and France to resume their roles as Great Powers and provide armies which would be strong enough, especially when backed by American atomic weapons, to recover the position which had been lost between 1944 and 1947”. This clearly suggests it wasn’t an altruistic act, and was in fact motivated by political aims. Word Count – 287 (excluding Title) Word Count – 287 (excluding Title) Balfour also argues that America was simply trying to preserve Western capitalism which had been on the brink of collapse and also capture additional trade markets and avoid depression. Interpretation D supports Balfour, although Balfour had mainly political interests where Interpretation D had economic interests, in that The Marshall Plan had more motives for the Marshall Plan, in the form of economic and business interests at mind stating that “Enthusiastic American New Dealers urged upon European colleagues the virtues of freer trade, international collaboration and inter-state integration”. It is correct that through The Marshall Plan, originally known as the European Recovery Programme, that the USA gained two allies for the Cold War in Britain and France, prevented Western Europe from succumbing to communism and also revived the European economy. With US money from the Marshall Plan the western European economy grew 35% between 1938 and 1951, significantly due to the Marshall Plan, this fact shows Interpretation D to be reliable. Balfour (A) also states that “The Russians can hardly be blamed for interpreting the Plan as an attempt to halt their advance and limit their influence”. The hugely powerful USA and USSR did see each other as a threat as they had totally opposing views on how a nation is to be run. This Interpretation also suggests that Stalin knew that the Marshall Plan wasn’t motivated by purely altruistic motives, this proves to be a correct suspicion as the US economy grew and Western European countries regained their military power and became vital allies to the USA in the Cold War. Word Count - 308 Word Count - 308 McCauley (B) also sees the economic and political benefits for America that the Marshall Plan brought as a main reason for the instigation of the Plan, similar to D McCauley states that the US government decided that Europe had to unite to create a large enough market to justify mass production and for trade to prosper. McCauley states “Europe had to unite so as to provide a market large enough to justify modern mass-production techniques”. This argument is corroborated by the fact that the German and French economies were linked through the Marshall Plan. With West Germany also gaining payments from the Marshall Plan the French were apprehensive about Germany becoming an economic and political superpower again so the interlink did give them some thought of security and also gave the US a larger economic market to trade with. McCauley argues that a stronger European economy would benefit the US by saying “an expanding European market would take more US goods and a strong Europe would be a powerful bulwark against communist expansion”. This statement totally shows that the US had their own selfish motives in mind when deciding to implicate the Marshall Plan and help a weakened post war Europe. Interpretation D, Tony Judt, also agrees that the Marshall Plan was largely intending to reform European trade stating that the Marshall Plan “constrained governments, businesses and labour unions to collaborate in planning increased rates of output and the conditions likely to facilitate them”. This is corroborated by the fact that industrial production in Europe grew by 35% in the four years after the Marshall Plan with the majority of these produced goods being traded with the USA. Word Count - 320 Word Count - 320 McCauley states that the USA saw the Marshall Plan as an investment to increase world trade and most importantly secure the future of the USA as the major economic power in the world, stating that “an expanding European market would take more US goods and a strong Europe would be a powerful bulwark against communist expansion”, by mentioning the ideas and plans of John Foster Dulles, who originated the idea to link the economies of West Germany and France. McCauley states that in a 1947 speech Dulles suggests that Europe as it is, a collection of smaller economies, could not succeed in mass production without Europe uniting as an economic superpower large enough to mass produce and trade on equal footing with the USA. McCauley’s arguments are corroborated by the four main aims of the Marshall Plan. The Plan’s main aim was to increase European production, secondly to expand European foreign trade, thirdly to facilitate European economic co-operation and finally to control inflation which the plan failed to do, condemning it to be the Plan’s chief failure. McCauley’s arguments show that the Marshall Plan was not simply motivated by an altruistic desire to help in the economic recovery of Europe. They show, along with facts from my own knowledge, that the aim of the Marshall Plan was in fact to turn Europe into a joint economic market which the US could revolutionise trade with and secure its future as the world’s superpower. Word Count - 314 Word Count - 314 Interpretation C, Gaddis, argues that the real intention of the Marshall Plan was to stem the growth of communism and put the US on the front foot in the Cold War, Gaddis argues this by saying that “American economic assistance would produce immediate psychological benefits and the USA could then seize the geopolitical and the moral initiative in the emerging Cold War”. Gaddis argues that “Marshall – following Truman’s lead – was constructing a Cold War grand strategy”. This suggests that the Marshall Plan was not the act of empathy it seemed to be but in fact a preparation by the US government for the inevitable Cold War with the Soviet Union. It is correct that the Cold War had been identified as a potential threat for America through Kennan’s “Long Telegram” and the USA knew if the Cold War happened that they would require allies to hold off the threat of communism from the highly hostile Soviet Union. Also Truman and Marshall knew that their European allies from World War Two, Britain, France and the majority of Western Europe, obviously excluding Germany, Italy and Spain, were weak from the economic constraints of six years of war across Europe, it had been shown that weaker countries were more likely to fall to communism as was the case in the majority of Eastern Europe. Their solution was the Marshall Plan, payments to strengthen the economies and militaries of Western Europe to provide allies to the USA for the Cold War. Gaddis also argues that the American government were threatened by the potential rise of communism in Western Europe stating “that the greatest threat to western interests was not the prospect of Soviet military intervention, but rather the risk that hunger, poverty and despair might cause Europeans to vote their own communists into power”. If communism was to rise in Europe the Soviet Union would gain a major advantage in winning the Cold War, instead, through the implementation of the Marshall Plan, it was the USA who gained this footing by reviving Western Europe’s economy. Interpretation A (Balfour) is also in agreement with Gaddis with the view that the Marshall Plan was a move to gain the initiative in the inevitable Cold War arguing that the Marshall Plan was simply a ploy to stop the collapse of Western Europe’s economies and provide allies for the US when the war between capitalism and communism comes to a head. Word Count - 328 Word Count - 328 The Marshall Plan was not only means for Western Europe to recover, it was available to all of Europe, including Russian controlled states, which suggests it was altruistic and unselfish, it was just mainly centred around Western Europe, namely Britain, France and West Germany. Interpretation C argues this by saying that “The Marshall Plan, as it instantly became known, did not at that point distinguish between those parts of the continent that were under soviet control and those that were not – but the thinking behind it certainly did”. This argument is supported by the amount of money countries received through Marshall Aid, Britain France and West Germany received the most with around 7000 million US dollars between them whereas Soviet influenced countries such as Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria received very little compared to the powers of Western Europe, which suggests the USA knew what it was doing by attaching conditions to the plan which they knew Stalin would find unacceptable. Word Count - 310 Word Count - 310 Interpretation D (Judt) argues that the Marshall Plan was an economic programme that aimed to reform Europe’s economy as a whole. The writer, Tony Judt, argues that the Marshall Plan brought to the US Western European economists to learn the American way of business. With the Marshall Plans money, these economists would reform the European economy with the money from the Marshall Plan. This is corroborated by the fact that 5000 French business managers, technicians and trade unionists travelled to the USA to study the American way of business. Judt also argues that “The fact that Marshall Aid was to be confined to the West (with Greece and Turkey honorary West Europeans) undoubtedly made it easier for Truman to secure passage of the European Recovery Programme through congress”. Many US politicians were sceptical about sending this money to Europe in the fear of them actually funding communism but the fact that Yugoslavia and other communist states did not receive aid allowed the Plan to go through Congress, suggesting it was mainly selfish reasons. Judt also says that Stalin and Soviet foreign minister Molotov were suspicious of the Marshall Plan. The Soviet economy was not at that point compatible with the Marshall Plan, effectively stopping them from receiving Marshall Aid. This is supported by the reported fact that Molotov condemned the Marshall Plan at Yalta and Potsdam branding it “imperialistic” and that it would “split Europe in two”. The Marshall Plan did eventually involve Eastern Europe but with certain constraints which Judt states “The programme obliged European governments to plan ahead and calculate future investment needs, it laid on them a requirement to negotiate and confer not just with the USA but with each other”. These requirements angered the Soviet government as they felt that the USA was trying to further its own interests and freeze out Russia from this European economy. To conclude the four Interpretations has shown me that the Marshall Plan was not mainly motivated by the altruistic desire to help in the economic recovery of Europe but simply to further America’s own interests. The Interpretations have argued that the Marshall Plan led to the USA not only gaining strong allies to fight communism in the Cold War but also created trading partners in Europe that would secure the future of the USA as the world’s leading superpower. Word Count - 126 Word Count - 126 Total Words: 1997 excluding title