Marshall Plan (1948)

Secretary of State George Marshall proposed massive American economic aid to rebuild war-damaged Western European economies. The Marshall Plan delivered approximately $13 billion in aid between 1948 and 1952. The plan had multiple purposes:

• Humanitarian: rebuild economies and feed populations
• Economic: restore European markets for American goods
• Political: stabilize Western democracies, reducing the appeal of domestic communist parties
• Strategic: build economic foundations for an anti-Soviet Western alliance

The Soviet Union refused Marshall aid and prevented its Eastern European satellites from accepting it. This decision deepened the economic gap between Western and Eastern Europe over the decades that followed.