Inquiry activity on the Marshall Plan as part of the Cold War Unit 10.
The Marshall Plan
The European Recovery Program, as the Marshall Plan was formally known, offered U.S. aid to nearly all European countries. From 1948 to mid-1952, more than $12 billion ($130 billion in 2019 dollars) was distributed in the form of direct aid, loan guarantees, grants and necessities from medicine to mules.
Task: As Soviet Leader, do you accept American aid?
Situation: You are Joseph Stalin.
It is 1947, and the United States and its allies have just announced the European Recovery Program, also known as the "Marshall Plan."
The initial proposal offers aid to all European nations, even the Soviet Union and its socialist allies. The aid is badly needed: postwar economic conditions are grim throughout Eastern Europe.
Your aides are split: some feel the assistance offered by the Marshall Plan could be helpful, while others view it as a form of financial imperialism.
Your goal is to maintain control of your Eastern European neighbors. If you accept Marshall Plan aid or allow your satellites to accept it, you risk giving the West greater influence in your sphere of authority. But if you reject the program, you risk provoking resentment among your allies.
1 point
1
Question 1
1.
What do you do?
1 point
1
Question 2
2.
Write THREE reasons for your decision.
The Real Stalin’s Response
Stalin: Rejected the Plan
Initially, the Soviet Union showed some interest in the Marshall Plan, participating in the first round of talks about a European response. But Stalin was suspicious about the Marshall Plan from the beginning. In the end he rejected it and cajoled his allies into doing the same. His decision was signaled in a Pravda article denouncing the European Recovery Program as "a plan for interference in other countries."
To counter the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union established the Cominform, a Moscow-directed international communist propaganda bureau, and the Comecon, an economic assistance program for Eastern bloc countries.
Stalin's reaction to the Marshall Plan -- and some say the Marshall Plan itself -- contributed to the growing chasm between East and West in postwar Europe. Many historians cite these developments as a major escalation of the Cold War.
1 point
1
Question 3
3.
One of a number of posters created to promote the Marshall Plan in Europe.
Note the pivotal position of the American flag.
What is this artist saying?
1 point
1
Question 4
4.
What countries accepted American aid through the Marshall Plan?