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= Marshall Plan = In 1947, The United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan that would help lead European nations out of poverty and the difficult times of war and into a new flourishing economy. The Marshall Plan, or the European Recovery Program as it was then called, was conducted at the conclusion of World War II in hopes of enacting a stabilized economic and governmental system that would ultimately promote growth and bring back wealth to the depleted European economy.

Precursor to Violence
Much of World War II stemmed from the lack of a resolution after the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles lacked the power needed to keep Germany from returning as a destructive power to the rest of Western Europe. The treaty was unable to stop the rise of Adolf Hitler, fascism, and the The Holocaust.

Violence Ensues
As the War broke out, there were more and more ways for enemies to hurt each other, whether that be through new technology, or new tactics or strategies. The War quickly turned into total war, where all of society became involved. Forces began to destroy one another's infrastructure and society as well. With this huge devastation to not only the products that were being produced, but also the actual means of production, much of Europe was left reeling with no way to rebuild itself.

Post World War II
Before developing the Marshall Plan, initially called the European Recovery Plan, Marshall had traveled to Europe, where he had witnessed first-hand the devastation and destroyed economy which was caused by World War II. Almost all of Europe was plagued by food shortages, which had forced most of the civilians to rely on a scary 1,500 calories-a-day diet. A drought in 1946 had killed most of the European wheat crop, while a severe winter destroyed most of the crops the following year. Germany was especially vulnerable because it was faced with reparation fees and many economic limitations imposed by the Allied victors. Many hospitals throughout Europe reported rising cases of malnutrition, death by starvation, and suicide after the war because of all the destruction it had caused.

Implementation
The aid was mostly comprised of direct grants and some sizable loans. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and West Germany all received assistance. Some say that the plan was intended to combat the emergence of Communist regimes, so The Soviet Union resisted the Marshall Plan and created its own Warsaw Pact to combat it. The plan encouraged the growth of a free market economy that would in turn foster the development of free institutions. According to Marshall, European countries would carry out the plan, and the US would provide the aid.

Reaction
Reactions were for the most part quite positive. Marshall's audience was enthusiastic, and the American press also came out in favor. The minority that opposed the plan was made up mostly of "isolationists" in the Republican Party. These isolationists were against all large foreign aid packages, and felt that US involvement in Europe would increase the continent's dependency on US intervention. The plan's supporters viewed it as a means to foster US economic strength in Europe.

Changing Policies
Although this recovery program provided huge amounts of U.S. financial aid as well as valuable technical assistance to capital-poor Western Europe, it was not a socialistic scheme. The European Recovery Program helped to promote currency reform and free trade, to control inflation, to modernize business practices, to diminish class conflicts, and to create a shared commitment to promote economic growth.

NATO
Unlike the "war to end all wars," the agreements that ended World War II were carefully created with history and the potential of human mishap clearly in mind. The United Nations essentially recreated the old League of Nations, while the Marshall Plan dealt with the post-war economies of all the war powers, enemies and allies alike. This time, the United States accepted the role of Great Power and the responsibilities that come with it. With the Marshall Plan and the unity of the nations that comprised it came NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.