Traces America's four-year diplomatic efforts to help rebuild post-World War II Europe, an endeavor that involved a thirteen-billion-dollar plan and was heavily influenced by political factors.
When World War II ended, Europe lay in ruins. Tens of millions had been killed. Ancient cities had been demolished. The economic, financial and commercial foundations of Europe were in shambles. Western Europe's Communist parties--feeding off want and despair--were flourishing as Stalin's Soviet Union emerged as the sole superpower on the continent. The Marshall Plan was a four-year, $13 billion (more than $100 billion in today's dollars) plan to provide assistance for Europe's economic recovery. More than an aid program, it sought to modernize Western Europe's economies and launch them on a path to prosperity and integration; to restore Western Europe's faith in democracy and capitalism; to enmesh the region firmly in a Western economic association and eventually a military alliance. It was the linchpin of America's strategy to meet the Soviet threat. It helped to trigger the Cold War and, eventually, to win it. Author Behrman brings this vital and dramatic epoch to life and animates the personalities that shaped it.--From publisher description.
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