truman doctrine and marshall plan

• background: after the war, the SU had set up communist governments in the eastern european countriesit controlled. however truman was worried about the spread of communism and came up with a doctrine to stop the influence of communism in europe. his doctrine was to give money and send troops to europe to fight against communism which was known as the truman doctrine. the marshall plan, carried out by the US secretary of state, george marshall went even further by giving economic aid to eastern european countries who had fought in WW2
• trumans worries: the Soviet unions red army still occupied much of eastern europe and were therefore still seen as a threat to peace. truman was worried that the people in stalins SS's would easily accept the communist way of thinking. they were living in poverty and destruction and communism agreed to share wealth so millions of people accepted it in hope of improvement in their lives. this would make communism, the SU and stalin even stronger. it would also threaten capitalism in the west , truman wanted a plan to stop this.
• trumans ideas: he came up with a doctrine in hope of stopping the spread of communism in europe. these ideas were known as the truman doctrine. it followed the idea of containment . trumans idea was to give money and military support to any country in europe that wanted to fight off the influence of communism.
• the truman doctrine: on march 12th 1947, truman announced that he would provide economic aid to countries such as greece and turkey which were being threatened by communism, he promised 400m dollars. he sent american soldiers to greece and turkey to prevent them being influenced by communism. truman made a clear statement on the differences between democracy- which provided freedom and choice and a dictatorship and communism which forced ideas on people. he compared capitalism and communism as good and evil. america was able to afford the economic aid as they joined the war late.
• the marshall plan: after truman sent out the doctrine, george marshall set out a plan to give money to countries in europe after destruction from war. if the populations in each country were better off and happier then they would be less likely to follow communism. the marshall plan gave economic aid to countries such as Britain and West germany- they gave 12.7 billion dollars between 1948-52. the british foreign secretary called it a lifeline to sinking men, giving hope where there was none. money was also offered to stalins SS's but he refused the money so these countries did not gain.
• soviets response to marshall plan: stalin believed that that the usa were trying to become become even more powerful and create an american empire by offering free money to eastern european countries. stalin criticised this movement by calling it dollar imperialism- a way to use money to take control and have influence over other countries. they saw the usa as an even greater threat as more american troops would be based in europe.
• impact of TD and MP for us-soviet relations: the idea of a friendly grand alliance had gone now completely. there was even more mistrust between the two countries and both believed that the other was trying to expand their power and influence over europe. the usa was now directly in opposition to the SU because of the different beliefs (capitalism and communism), there was little they now had in common. europe became divided into west (america)and east europe (SU). the iron curtain seemed real and the map of europe now looked like the two opposing sides.