Marshall Plan

Also known as European Recovery Program.

U.S. plan of reconstruction of Europe after World War II created by George Marshall. Between 1948 and 1951, the United States contributed more than thirteen billion dollars of economic, agricultural, and technical assistance toward the recovery of Europe. It was rejected by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite countries, but gave impetus to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and to the European Economic Community.

The Marshall Plan has often been cited as an example of how massive economic assistance can produce prosperity. However, some have pointed out that post-war reconstruction of Europe was a far easier problem than the construction or reconstruction of areas in the third world. In the case of Europe, despite being devastated by war, there was still significant amounts of physical infrastructure along with technical skill in the population. In the cases of the third world, the infrastructure and technical skills do not exist.