What were the influences and effects of the economic recovery programs in postwar Europe?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary.While many recovery programs were tied to the political conflict between the Eastern and Western blocs, the first program of economic recovery on a wide scale was the Marshall Plan in western Europe, making $13 billion available to participants in the creation of a prodemocratic Europe. This money helped rebuild roads, industries, and housing. However, it also advocated hunting down Communists and pro-leftist factions. The Soviet Union declined participation in this, forbade the participation by the other satellite nations of eastern Europe, and proceeded to dismantle German industry as part of the reparations program that had been promised to them. As criticism rose that the Soviet Union was doing so at a rate that was harmful to the German population, the USSR responded by initiating a blockade of Berlin. The West responded with air drops of food and supplies. This confrontation was not military, however. In 1949, the USSR created the Committee for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) as a counterpart to the Marshall plan, and in 1955, created the Warsaw Pact as a counter to NATO. The postwar recovery efforts were successful, but nowhere more so than in West Germany. Ultimately, the plans of Robert Schuman and French and German economists and politicians resulted in the European Coal and Steel Community, which embraced economic growth through a cooperative plan including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, and the Netherlands. This was the basis for the EEC, or the creation of the Common Market. This plan put an emphasis on ensured cooperation and joint planning to enhance economic growth.