The Marshall Plan was a US initiative to help Western Europe, in which the Americans gave economic aid worth about 13 billion dollars at the time for the reconstruction of those countries of Europe devastated after the Second World War. The plan was in operation for four years since 1948. The objectives of the United States were to rebuild those areas destroyed by the war, eliminate barriers to trade, modernize European industry and make the continent prosperous again; all these objectives were aimed at preventing the spread of communism, which had a great and growing influence in post-war Europe.The Marshall Plan required a decrease in inter-state barriers, less regulation of business and encouraged an increase in productivity, union membership and new "modern" business models.
The Marshall Plan ended, as planned, in 1951. From 1948 to 1952, Europe experienced the period of maximum economic growth in its history. Industrial production increased by 35%, and agriculture surpassed pre-war levels sharply, poverty and hunger in the early post-war years disappeared, and Western Europe had two decades of unprecedented economic growth.
