Question

How did the Marshall Plan contribute to the rebuilding of Western Europe’s economy and how did this rebuilding help bring the spread of Communism in Europe to a halt? How was NATO supposed to stop the spread of communism?

Answer 1

Marshall Plan :-

• This plan was developed by the Brainchild of US secretary of state, George C Marshall, so that this plan is called as Marshall Plan.
• The Marshall Plan is also called as European recovery program, which was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II.
• The Marshall Plan  was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent.
• The Marshall Plan was a four-year period plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.
• One of the most important goal of the Marshall Plan was that, to halt the spread communism on the European continent, on the state of economic redevelopment of the European countries.
• The reconstruction coordinated under the Marshall Plan was formulated following a meeting of the participating European states in the latter half of 1947. Notably, invitations were extended to the Soviet Union and its satellite states.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):-

• NATO was also called as the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949
• There were 12 members of NATO when it was formed.
• It was a military alliance of western capitalist countries.
• Western European Countries were a communist by the year of 1949. There was a fear that, the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR) would attack on the western union country to spread communism.
• Therefore the formation of NATO meant that the USA could place weapons in member state to stop the communist from attacking.
• Eastern Europe was surrounded by NATO countries to control Eastern Europe.