The Marshall Plan and Communism after World War 2 - Essay Example

The Marshall Plan and Communism after World War 2 Section A: Plan of Investigation The following is a historical research paper based on a historical question. This research paper aims at finding appropriate answer to: "How effective was the Marshall Plan in helping Europe rebuild and stand up to Communism after World War 2?" In order to find the appropriate answer to this question, the discussion is divided into six parts. The first part deals wit plan of investigation, while the second and third parts focus on summary of evidence and source evaluation respective. Parts four, five, and six provide analysis, conclusion, and sources respectively. Historical facts are used for purposes of knowledge and understanding of past events to help explaining contemporary and future events. On this basis, research into finding the answers to the above question will add knowledge to historians and other interested stakeholders. In addition, the information obtained will enable historians and other stakeholders in explaining contemporary and future communism. Such facts are provided within the analysis and conclusion of the paper. Section B: Summary of Evidence Communism is the economic and social system where property and resources are collectively owned and controlled by classless society. Marshall Plan (named after Secretary of State George Marshall) was intended to provide aid for fostering reconstruction of economies that had been destroyed by the World War II Between 1948 and 1951, US through the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program, ERP) pumped money into Western Europe in order to spur redevelopment after the World War II Marshall Plan was based on the dislocation of the entire European economy during the World War II Deteriorating European economies provided vistas for people to come together and own resources and production channels Main intention was to combat the spread of Soviet communism Goals of the Marshall Plan included: Rebuilding devastated region Removal of trade barriers Modernization of industry Making Europe prosperous again after the World War II Marshall’s success kept the Western Europe out of the communist bloc Economic weapons can be used in solving diplomatic problems Section C: Source Evaluation Ambrose, Stephen E. "The Presidency and Foreign Policy." Foreign Affairs 70.5 (1992): 120. In this article, Ambrose identifies some of the foreign policies employed by the US. Foreign policies are usually the guidelines that affect how a given nation interacts with other nations. This resource identifies the fact that Marshall Plan was developed out of the US foreign policies. The article provides the foundation of the plan making the research on the topic easier. Nonetheless, the article does not explicitly describe the Marshall Plan. Bernadette, Whelan. Ireland and the Marshall Plan 1947-1957. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000. Print. Bernadette in her book attempts to describe how Ireland benefitted from the Marshal Plan that was in effect between 1947 and 1958. Notably, the book addresses very crucial point in respect to how communism was going to arise within Europe had there been no aid from the US. What’s more, this book attempts to describe how communist bloc was a major concern for the US given that they had just emerged victors in the Second World War. Such information is important in establishing effectiveness of the Marshall Plan in preventing communism within the Western Europe. However, the limitation of the book is that it fails to explicitly provide a description and evaluation of the effects of Marshall Plan on communism in Europe. Burk, Kathleen. "The Marshall Plan: Filling in some of the Blanks." Contemporary European History 10.2 (2001): 267-94. In the journal of Contemporary European History, Burk’s article revolves around the Marshall Plan and how it attempted to reconstruct the European economy. Burk’s article identifies some of the ‘blanks’ that many historians have failed to identified for all this time. For instance, Burk claims that despite the fact that America engaged in Marshall Plan to reconstruct Europe’s economy, their main intention was to prevent the rise of communism, which was considered a threat to the US. Nevertheless, this article leaves the reader to keep asking so many questions that is; there are many questions that remain unanswered in this article. Jachec, Nancy. "Anti-Communism at Home, Europeanism Abroad: Italian Cultural Policy at the Venice Biennale, 1948-1958." Contemporary European History 14 (2), 2005: 193-217. Jachec attempts to describe the motive of the Marshall plan. She defines communism whilst providing some of the reasons as to why America considered it a threat. According to this article, Marshall Plan was not a pro-reconstruction of the Europe’s economy but rather an anti-communism plan developed by the US. The author attempts to evaluate some reasons that directly link the Marshall Plan with anti-communism. However, the main limitation of this article is that most of the prepositions are based on assumptions such as the fact that communism is assumed to consolidate power amongst the classless hence making them powerful. Kunz, Diane B. "The Marshall Plan Reconsidered: A Complex of Motives." Foreign Affairs 76.3 (1997): 162-70. Kunz vividly describes the Marshall Plan. It is from this article that the goals of the Marshall Plan are derived from. Therefore, this article provides rich information in carrying out the research on Marshall Plan and its effectiveness in combating communism within Europe. Nonetheless, Kunz fails to simply the various complex motives that he has proposed in the article leaving the reader with more questions that answers. McKinnon, Ronald I. "The Marshall Plans True Purpose." Wall Street Journal: A14. While identifying the purported goals of the Marshall Plan, McKinnon identifies that the true purpose of the Marshall Plan was to combat communism within Europe. McKinnon strongly proposes that America fear the coming together of the classless within Europe as this was going to make them more powerful. As a result, US hide behind the Marshall Plan to prevent the rise of communism. Despite the useful information provided by this article in conducting the research, McKinnon fails to elaborate how effective the Marshall Plan was in combating communism making the reader to fill for him or herself. Schain, Martin. Marshall Plan Fifty Years After. Houndmills: Palgrave, 2001. Interestingly, Schain attempts to evaluate the impact of the Marshall Plan five decades after its enactment. With the perception of Marshall Plan being a strategy to combat communism, Schain attempts to evaluate how effective the plan was in achieving its main objectives. In this book, the author evaluates the contemporary Europe whilst trying to understand how far the communism bloc has reached. His findings from the book indicate that the Marshall Plan effectively achieved its objectives. It is from this book that the phrase, “Economic weapons can be used in solving diplomatic problems”. Indeed, the book is adequately resourceful in providing information for the research paper. Section D: Analysis According to Jachec (195), communism is defined as the economic and social system where property and resources are collectively owned and controlled by classless society. Communism provides the power and economic will to the classless within a given society. In most cases, societies that practice communism usually have the collective political will capable of governing themselves without any interference (Jachec, 198). For a long time, USA has enjoyed being a super power in the global arena. It is therefore difficult for them to let go of the superiority hence would do anything including developing adequate strategies to avoid any nation that is seen to be rising (McKinnon). Ambrose (120) points out that in such scenarios America would develop better strategies through foreign policy, which will enable them to prevent any rising nation. After the World War II, America’s victory was at the verge of being affected through the idea of communism in Europe (Burk 269). Europe’s economy had been disrupted by the world war hence was at the verge of collapsing. In a bid to reconstruct and rebuild their economy, Europe saw that the only way was to develop communism, which entailed allowing the classless to own resources and production process (Burk 272). However, America saw the idea as a threat to their superiority (). Through the foreign policy America was able to come up with a strategy known as the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan, which was named after Secretary of State George Marshall was intended to provide aid for fostering reconstruction of economies that had been destroyed by the World War II (Bernadette 98).McKinnon adds that through the Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), America was able to pump money between into Western Europe in order to spur redevelopment after the World War II. This occurred between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan was based on the dislocation of the entire European economy during the World War II (Bernadette 107). Such dislocation caused deteriorating European economies. As a result, the deteriorating economies provided vistas for people to come together and own resources as well as production channels (Jachec (195). It is this process that Jachec (195) identifies as communism, which Ambrose (120) confirms that triggered creation of the Marshall Plan through foreign policy. Even though the Marshall Plan was created to provide economic resources to Western Europe in a bid to restructuring various economies, McKinnon confirms that the true purpose of the plan was to combat the spread of Soviet communism. USA saw the Soviet communism as a threat to their superiority within the global spectrum. US wanted strategies that were effective in standing up to communism. Nonetheless, various goals were achieved through the Marshall Plan. Some of those goals included rebuilding devastated region, removal of trade barriers, modernization of industry, and making Europe prosperous again after the World War II (Kunz 165). Such goals led to improvement of European economies. Kunz (168) identifies that this was the period that Europe made the most remarkable economic growth and development in history. Attainment of these goals made various nations that had started thinking of Soviet Communism such as Moscow to drop the idea. Europe economies were now determined to keep the economic growth they had attained through the Marshall Plan. As a result, the Marshall’s success kept the Western Europe out of the communist bloc. Therefore, the Marshall Plan was an effective tool in standing up to communism. In fact, Schain (76) confidently confirms that, “Economic weapons can be used in solving diplomatic problems”. In this regard, US used economic weapons to solve the problem of supremacy slipping away from them due to rising of the Soviet Communism. Section E: Conclusion From the above discussion, it is evident that through the Marshall Plan, US was able to keep the Western Europe out of the communist bloc. Therefore, Marshall Plan was an effective tool that helped in rebuilding Europe and standing up to communism after World War II. Works Cited Ambrose, Stephen E. "The Presidency and Foreign Policy." Foreign Affairs 70.5 (1992): 120. Bernadette, Whelan. Ireland and the Marshall Plan 1947±1957. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000. Print. Burk, Kathleen. "The Marshall Plan: Filling in some of the Blanks." Contemporary European History 10.2 (2001): 267-94. Jachec, Nancy. "Anti-Communism at Home, Europeanism Abroad: Italian Cultural Policy at the Venice Biennale, 1948-1958." Contemporary European History 14.2 (2005): 193-217. Kunz, Diane B. "The Marshall Plan Reconsidered: A Complex of Motives." Foreign Affairs 76.3 (1997): 162-70. McKinnon, Ronald I. "The Marshall Plans True Purpose." Wall Street Journal: A14. Schain, Martin. Marshall Plan Fifty Years After. Houndmills: Palgrave, 2001. Word Count: 1,784 (Excluding the References) Read More