1948Reputable sourceWell documented
The Marshall Plan
On the timeline · around 1948 ·
What happened
To rebuild a war-shattered Western Europe and check the spread of communism, the United States launched the Marshall Plan in 1948, channeling some $13 billion in aid over four years. It followed the Truman Doctrine's pledge to support free peoples resisting Soviet pressure.
Why it matters
The Marshall Plan revived Europe's economies, bound Western Europe to the United States, and set the pattern of Cold War containment — the strategy that would guide American foreign policy for four decades.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Marshall Plan, 1948 · Reputable source