The Truman Doctrine was also introduced because the main belief of the US was containment. The aim was to contain or stop the spreading of communism; this was a defence policy of the US standing their ground. This was because the Americans believed the domino theory, if one country fell to communism then the next one would become communist and so on. Through the Truman Doctrine, USA had shed its image of isolationism. America was now playing a big part in the world.
Describe key features of the Marshall plan?
A program was created in June 1947 by the Americans to help Europe. Over 15000million dollars was available, over the next few years, post war to rebuild democratic nations. The Marshall plan, organised and named after General George Marshall who was the secretary of the state in America, supported the Truman doctrine economically. The aim of the Marshall plan was to build an economic stability and affluence, and the other aim was to advance the economy of the USA and global capitalism could only occur if there was overseas exports and investing in other countries.
The USA therefore provided a lot of economical help for Eastern Europe, as they believed that they could beat communism if the east side of Europe was wealthy. However the Soviet Union was allowed to apply for help. Yet Stalin saw this as a threat and did not ask USA for help. The Marshall plan was made to make people happy and well paid and made people think that this plan would be better than communism. The plan also made sure that there was a clear message being sent out; communism not welcome.
Why was there a blockade of Berlin from 1948 to 1949?
The Western Europe had been split up into four parts, French sector, Soviet sector, British sector and American sector. In 1947 January, America and Britain joined their zones of Germany together, this was known as Bizonia. This established West Germany. In 1948 the western allies introduced a new currency, the Deutschmark, wasn’t used in the Soviet Union.
These actions made the border between the eastern and western zones very clear. During this time the Marshall plan was helping the western side however, the soviet zone had not been improving and so it was clear that there was a great difference between the borders. Stalin became threatened, as there were many developing countries around them due to the Marshall plan. His only true weapon was the air. The American, French and the Britain controlled West Berlin. However unfortunately for them the western side was deep inside the soviet sector and so any supplies that had to reach the western Europeans had to pass over the soviet zone. Stalin’s weapon was to stop the supply going to the 2million people in western Germany. This was Stalin’s plan to weaken the growing economical power in the western side. Stalin knew that the Berlin airlift would affect not only the western side but also the countries that owned it i.e., France, America and Britain. This was Stalin’s attempt to stop the formation of West Germany.
