The Marshall Plan is the most successful economic aid project in history

The Second World War ended. Its consequences for Europe were terrible. Tens of millions of people died, most of the housing stock was destroyed, agricultural production barely reached 70% of the pre-war level.

The total economic losses according to the most conservative estimates were 1,440 billion pre-war francs. Without external support, the countries affected by the war could not solve the problems that arose. What this assistance should be, determined the Marshall plan, named after its initiator, US Secretary of State and retired military George Marshall.

Europe was divided into two parts, the eastern one was in the sphere of influence of the USSR, and the Stalinist leadership did not conceal its hostile attitude to the free market system, as well as its intentions to establish a socialist order in all European countries.

Against this background, the forces that are usually called the "left" have intensified. Communist parties supported by the Soviet Union began to gain ground, their popularity grew.

At this point, the US began to feel the threat of the Communists coming to power in the territory of Western Europe controlled by them.

The Marshall Plan became the most successful implemented project of economic assistance in the history of mankind.

The army general, who became Secretary of State at Truman, J. Marshall had no economic education. The real fathers of the plan were J. Kennan and his group, and they developed the basic details of its implementation. They simply had a task - to work out measures to limit Soviet influence in Western Europe, where, in the event of the communists coming to power, the US could lose the most important markets, and in the long term face a direct military threat.

As a result, the document worked out by economists was called the "Marshall Plan". With its implementation, sixteen countries in Europe received a total of $ 17 billion in aid. However, the Marshall Plan envisaged not only the distribution of food and the consumption of American money, assistance was provided under very stringent conditions, such as the reduction of customs duties, the refusal to nationalize enterprises and the support of market economic principles, only democratic countries could receive it. 17% of the funds received were to be spent on the purchase of production equipment.

George Marshall himself, during the Harvard speech on June 5, 1947, expressed the essence of US state policy in military terms clearly. The fight against communism is impossible if Europe is weak.

The Marshall Plan is a successful attempt to restore the economy of war-affected countries, and by 1950 all of them exceeded the prewar level of agricultural and industrial production.

Part of the assistance was provided free of charge, but mostly they were loans at low rates.

The Marshall Plan was criticized by the leadership of the USSR and the Eastern European countries of "people's democracy", but macroeconomic indicators achieved in just four incomplete years spoke for themselves. The level of influence of the Communist parties began to decline rapidly, and America received a huge market for its products.