In 1947 the USA committed itself to containing communism with military and economic aid, and the USSR answered with Cominform.
In March 1947, Truman asked Congress for 400 million dollars of aid for Greece and Turkey. He said the USA must support free peoples resisting subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures. This Truman Doctrine turned containment into public policy.
In June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a programme to rebuild Europe's economy. He said it was aimed not against any country but against hunger, poverty and chaos. Aid was offered to all of Europe, including the USSR.
Stalin saw the Marshall Plan as a way to spread American economic influence into Eastern Europe. Molotov walked out of the Paris talks in July 1947, and Eastern European states were made to refuse. From 1948, around 13 billion dollars went to Western European states.
In September 1947, the USSR set up the Cominform to coordinate communist parties. Its spokesman Andrei Zhdanov said the world had split into two camps. An imperialist camp was led by the USA, and an anti-imperialist camp by the USSR. By late 1947, Europe was divided economically as well as politically.
- Truman Doctrine
- 12 March 1947: 400 million dollars for Greece and Turkey; support free peoples.
- Marshall Plan
- Proposed June 1947; about 13 billion dollars to Western Europe from 1948.
- Cominform
- September 1947; Zhdanov's two camps.
Worked example: Was the Marshall Plan generous or self-interested?
A common essay and source issue.
- Generous view: it relieved hardship and helped democracies recover.
- Self-interested view: a prosperous Western Europe would buy American goods and resist communism.
- Soviet view: it was economic imperialism designed to break the Soviet sphere.
- Judgement: the motives overlapped; humanitarian language served strategic aims.
Watch out for this
The Truman Doctrine only applied to Greece and Turkey.
The aid went to Greece and Turkey, but Truman stated a general principle of supporting free peoples, which became the basis of worldwide containment.
Check your understanding
How did the USSR respond to the Marshall Plan?
- It refused aid, made Eastern Europe refuse too, and created Cominform.
- It accepted aid for Poland and Czechoslovakia.
- It joined NATO.