Marshall Plan:

The Marshall Plan was an economic relief plan conceived by George Marshall to help rebuild a dying postwar Europe. The plan was announced in 1947, for a number of reasons. However, the two main motivations were almost solely in the interest of the United States. The first was to insure a prosperous market for American goods, and the second was to discourage European nations to turn to Communism to rebuild. The plan was to have the nations of Europe decide how the money was to be spent, and for the United States to fund the rebuilding. When the Soviets found out that the United States wanted to know exactly where the funding was going, they left negotiations and started their own relief plan for Communist nations. As a result, this rent Europe into two economically opposite sides and contributed greatly to the Cold War. The Marshall Plan was totally successfully as far as its goals were concerned. West Germany was thriving and capitalist, industry was up over 35% from prewar times across Western Europe, and over 70% of the $13 billion that was spent on the Marshall Plan was spent in the U.S. on goods to ship to Europe.

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