The Truman Doctrine, The Marshall Plan and Stalin's Response

• Superpower relations and the Cold War 1941-1991 are topics from the GCSE Edexcel 9 to 1 course.
• The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are Western responses to Stalin's expansion during the Cold War.
• In February 1947, Britain informed the USA that they could no longer afford to keep troops in Greece and Turkey, which alarmed Truman as these countries were likely to become communist.
• The Truman Doctrine formed the basis for the next 50 years of politics in Europe and America.
• Truman gave a speech on the 12th of March 1947 in which he outlined his concerns for Europe.
• Truman was worried that the effects of World War II would lead to countries becoming communist.
• Europe was destroyed, there was unemployment, poverty, and hopelessness everywhere.
• Truman was worried that these conditions made the idea of Communism more attractive.
• Many Eastern European countries had been liberated from Nazi control by the USSR and some, including Poland, had already been forced to take a communist government.
• The theory of the domino effect states that when one nation feels as communism, others will follow.
• In his speech, Truman said that countries faced a choice between capitalism and communism, stating that communism was evil because the people were not free.
• The policy of containment, which was outlined in Truman's speech, aimed to stop the spread of Communism.
• In April 1948, General George C Marshall, the U.S Secretary of State, announced the USA's plan, named after him, which provided 17 billion dollars in Aid to help rebuild Europe.
• The Marshall Plan aimed to give people a stake in their own society by providing Aid to 16 countries, with the largest beneficiaries being Britain and France.
• Although the Soviet countries did not have enough money to support one another, the consequences of the two countries' plans were clear: a dramatically increased tension between the two sides because Western Europe was now united tied to the US by the Marshall Plan and the USA's policy of containment while the East was also united but under Soviet control.
• In the beginning, Comic-Con spent their time organizing credit and trade agreements but after 1953 it began to organize the economies of member states giving each a financial Five-Year Plan.
• The Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and Comic-Con were significant events in the history of the Cold War.
• Bulgaria's trade with other Comic-Con countries increased from 10 of its overall trade in the 1930s to over 90 percent in the 1950s.
• The Marshall Plan was a plan to aid Western Europe after World War II.
• Comic-Con strengthened the trade links between the common form countries and aimed to provide financial aid in line with communist principles which would prevent the Soviet-led countries joining the Marshall Plan.
• Tensions between Tito of Yugoslavia and Stalin led to Yugoslavia being expelled from common form in 1948.
• Comic-Con, also known as the council for Mutual economic assistance, was set up by Stalin to offer a positive alternative to the Marshall Plan.
• The Truman Doctrine was a policy statement that supported Greece in defeating the Communists and confirmed the USA's commitment to containing communism.
• The agreement made sure that the governments in the satellite States took their orders from Moscow and the parties were encouraged to trade with each other rather than non-communist countries.
• Common form, a part of Comic-Con, was responsible for organizing all the Communist parties in Europe with the aim of removing opposition to Soviet control in communist-led countries.
• Stalin used common form meetings to spread anti-US propaganda.
• Greece, which was at real risk of becoming a communist country, was the largest beneficiary of the Marshall Plan, receiving 376 million US Dollars.
• In order to receive the aid, the country must commit to trading with the USA.