revise paper

The Marshall plan, by contrast, provided about twenty billion dollars in economic aid to Europe and Germany in particular (Buchanan2008). Under American leadership, the Western Allies also started to curtail the dismantling of Germany industrial plants that is with France putting up a lot of resistance against this pan and allowed sectors gradually to reestablish consular and commercial relations with other countries (Gerschenkron1989). This was a sign of trust in the economic potential and reliability of West Germany. However, it was also based on sound economic reasoning.

By adopting the Marsha plan, the United States itself was the beneficiary economically from the recovery of Europe. Furthermore, it also created a dependable and strategically located ally in West Germany during the Cold War period.

What were the reasons that led the United States to implement the Marshall plan?

The Marshall Plan was an American program to help West Europe, in which the US gave more than $13 billion in economic support, with an aim of helping in the rebuilding process of the economies of Western Europe after the end of the second World War (Young & Kent, 2013). The Marshall plan lasted for four years and began on April 8, 1948. The reasons for implementation of the plan were to reconstruct or rebuild regions that were devastated by war, prevent further spread of communism, make Europe successful and prosperous once again, modernize the industry and remove trade barriers (Young & Kent, 2013). The plan required a reduction of interstate barriers, encouraged an improvement in productivity, an elimination of many regulations, the adoption of contemporary business procedures, and labor union membership (Young & Kent, 2013).

The plan successfully helped in promoting economic recovery, attaining its goal of restoring confidence of the Europeans in the economic capability and future of their countries in particular and Europe as a whole (Young & Kent, 2013). The Soviet Union and its allies were also offered the opportunity to participate but they however refused since they viewed the plan as an attempt of the United States that was aimed at interfering with the internal affairs of other nations (Young & Kent, 2013). Ultimately the Soviet Union prevented Czechoslovakia and Poland from participating, despite their willingness to do so. Revisionist historians have consistently challenged the view that the Marshall plan represented altruism of the United States (Young & Kent, 2013).

What were the repercussions of this decision about the denazification of Germany?

About the denazification of Germany, there exists no doubt that the Marshall plan had positive repercussions in this aspect (Buchanan2008). Degasification was not all about blaming and giving punishment to the people who were responsible for their crimes. Furthermore, it also had to do with the German civilians. In the beginning, the method of denazification that Americans had adopted was harsh and to German civilians to accept. For instance, the US military forced the German people to watch documentaries concerning the Holocaust and demanded them to bury the victims in person (Gerschenkron1989). However, many of the German people didn’t now that the Nazi party had made such atrocious crimes to Jews and therefore they felt uncomfortable and resentful to the re-education by US military.

As the outcome, they had the unpleasant association with the US which unfavorable to the implications of denazification. In contrast, the form of the Marshall plan was quite gentle. By giving them food and money and helping their economy to get reconstructed, the relation between the German individuals and the Us military was eased, and people of German started to have the administration as well as gratitude towards the United States (Beschloss2002). Under this circumstances, the German people wouldn’t easily fall into the control of the Nazi regime and let history repeat itself.

In the process of the European countries gaining many benefits from the Marshall plan, the United States also caught profit from the scheme in large amounts (Gerschenkron1989). Accordingly, by carrying out this plan, the United States was enhancing its influences on Europe and at the same time associating with itself with the goodwill. Implementations of the Marshal plan indeed promoted the cooperation among Western European countries which laid solid foundations for European community unification. Comment by Veronika Bismark: Each of your individual paragraphs should have one specific subtopic for discussion.

How did the United States profit from this decision in the post-war period

The United States had benefited from this decision. The move led to the economic recovery of Europe. European countries were the main trading partner of the United States. They argued that export of US dollars to European countries kept the US from going back to depression by offering a market for United States capital goods. According to revisionists, the Marshall plan allowed the US to remake the economy of Europe in the image of the United States economy (Young & Kent, 2013). It promoted integration of the European economy and federalism, and established a mixture of public organization of a private economy that resembles the domestic economy of the US. The reorganization and reconstruction of European economy offered a friendly environment for American investors and investment (Arkes, 2015). The United States also profited from the decision to aid European nations through the plan, considering that the US economy also benefited.

The money issued through the plan would be used in buying goods from the US, and they had to be shipped on American merchant vessels across the Atlantic Ocean (Arkes, 2015). Also, not only was it successful in promoting economic stability in many European governments, preventing the spread or communism and blocking Soviet expansion, the Marshall Plan built a new Europe where the economy was based on free trade as opposed to self-interest and protectionism (Arkes, 2015). This, therefore, allowed American exporters to successfully enter European markets in an easier way as compared to the period before the second World War. Other benefits that the United States gained through the Plan included containment of the Soviet Union, liberalization, increased profitability for American firms, enhanced image of the United States government and it marketed the plan as a visionary and generous policy, and encouragement of free trade (Arkes, 2015). The conditions of the plan incorporated free trade practices and policies, which later proved productive and profitable for American manufacturers and producers. Comment by Veronika Bismark: Be sure to not bring up new points in your conclusion but only allude the ones already made throughout your paper

Comments:

For your revision, refer to my in-line comments and the rubric below. All changes made in lesson 8, need to be underlined.

Points: 85/120

Reference

Beschloss, M. (2002). The conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Buchanan, P. (2008). Churchill, Hitler, and "the unnecessary war": how Britain lost its empire, and the West lost the world. New York: Three Rivers.

Gerschenkron, A. (1989). Bread and democracy in Germany. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Hanson, V. & Keegan, J. (2009). The Western way of war: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Arkes, H. (2015). Bureaucracy, the Marshall Plan, and the national interest. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Young, J. W., & Kent, J. (2013). International relations since 1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press.