Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Assess The Relative Significance Of Marshall Aid To Moves Towards European Integration Between 1945 and 1954.

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Assess The Relative Significance Of Marshall Aid To Moves Towards European Integration Between 1945 and 1954. The Marshall Plan lasted for four years between 1948 and 1952, and offered $22 billion in American aid to Europe. This essay believes that Marshall Aid was significant in moves towards integration in the post war years, and will show this by looking at the Marshall Plan, the Schumann Plan and the Pleven Plan. The Marshall Plan (1947) was, effectively, a result of US self-protection, designed both to bring West Germany back into the diplomatic process and to bring together Western Europe on the side of America - as Lundestad (1998, p29) puts it, "The Soviet Union and Communism had to be contained; the western zones of Germany had to be integrated with a revitalised Western Europe in general, and with France in particular." The offer of aid was open to all countries of Europe but, as the USA must have anticipated, the USSR and its allies turned it down: nonetheless, all European countries urgently needed the aid. ...read more.

Middle

changed their minds, with some sort of economic union now appearing to be "...a political and economic necessity..." (Dedman, 2000, p43). West Germany too was willing to enter into economic union with France and Europe, since it was the only way West Germany could ever be brought back into the fold: "...stability and union within Western Europe rested ultimately upon a rapprochement between France and West Germany." (Urwin, 1995, p44). The Schumann Plan duly delivered. It proposed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), thus linking France and West Germany economically whilst also reassuring France by pooling the two most essential resources West Germany would need should it go to war again. This was a step closer to federal union in Europe - the ECSC allowed no veto, and involved loss of sovereignty for the participants. Only 6 countries joined, though, Britain being the most notable of those who did not take part: nonetheless, the ECSC consolidated the vital Franco-German relationship - according to Henig (2002, p25) ...read more.

Conclusion

The collapse of the most far-reaching plan, in integration terms, led to setbacks - "An alternative to the EDC had to be found." (Urwin, 1995, p69), and the USA went back to its original plan of rearming West Germany through NATO. The Pleven Plan was thus significant in demonstrating that the countries of Europe were not yet ready for high level integration. In conclusion, all three of the Marshall Plan, the Schumann Plan and the Pleven Plan were significant, in some way, to European integration in the period 1945 to 1954. The Pleven Plan was significant in that it showed that integration in terms of high politics was a little too much for Europe at the time; the Schumann Plan was arguably the most significant of the three, since it paved the way for the creation of the European Economic Community a few years later; but the Marshall Plan was nearly as significant, since it united the whole of Western Europe and demonstrated that integration was the best way forward in the post war years. Thus Marshall Aid was quite significant to moves towards European integration between 1945 and 1954. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level European Union section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level European Union essays

  1. C1 Analyse the factor, which contribute towards an effective team.

    At last we met our target in selling the tickets for another week and took the draw the following first day.

  2. To what extent were Political and Economic reasons responsible for post 1945 European Integration.

    To combat this, the US, Canada and ten west European states signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). An attack on one would represent an attack on all. While Europe seemed to be even more strongly dividing itself, there were still great economic needs that had to be addressed.

  1. Transformation of the U.S. Hegemony in Europe through NATO after the Cold War

    However, this victory also brought another question into daylight. What was the role of U.S. in changing Europe, i.e. German unification, collapse of the Soviet Bloc and further integration of European Union, with the new Post-Cold war framework? Art mentions renationalization fears of the Western Europe's political military elites if

  2. What does citizenship mean in the European context?

    But the difference from American Republicanism goes further than merely having a different menu of civic values and here it also differs from Habermasian Constitutional Patriotism. Americanism was too, after all, about nation building albeit on different premises. Its end state, its myth, as expressed in the famous Pledge of

  1. The Institution of the European Union and Theories.

    Italy the official language of Italy is Italian with some minor languages such as Sardinian and Cheetic. The population is roughly 50 million. Italy has the most beautiful buildings and architecture in the world with galleries. The country has a huge number of tourist every year and also many high quality brands.

  2. The French Revolution

    In other countries, Britain and America, this practice was carried out by individual manufacturers anxious to improve their own methods. Another way to spread news was by the network of informal philosophical societies, in which members met to discuss science and its application to manufacturing.

  1. 'Economic Integration within the European Union: Have MNEs driven the Commission's decision to adopt ...

    Solomons (1983, cited by Flower and Ebbers, 2002) lists the advantages of the imposition of uniform standards as: creditability; comparability; and the efficiency of communication. Although these advantages were cited before the decision to adopt IFRS was taken, I believe they are still applicable. In terms of creditability, having more than one set of financial reporting rules means

  2. Evaluate the view thatEuropean integration and not, extended cooperation between states, was the onlyconceivable ...

    What they were mostly focused on was economic reconstruction throughout the states. Understanding the context of the Cold War, the tension between the capitalist West and the Communist Soviet Union, is also essential to characterise the origins of the EU.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work