Question

According to the Marshall Plan, the United States would loan money to help rebuild countries in post- World War II Europe as long as the countries receiving money:
A. signed the Warsaw Pact.
B. had free and democratic policies.
C. attacked the Soviet Union
D. formed communist governments.

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. According to the Marshall Plan, the United States would loan money to help rebuild countries in post- World War II Europe as long as the countries receiving money had free and democratic policies.

The Marshall Plan was a US initiative to help Western Europe, in which Americans gave economic aid worth about $ 13 billion at the time for the reconstruction of those countries in Europe devastated after the Second World War. The plan was operative 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 intended to prevent the spread of communism, which had a large and growing influence in post-war Europe. The Marshall Plan required a decrease in interstate barriers, reduced business regulation and encouraged increased productivity, union membership and new "modern" business models.

The plan aid was divided among the recipient countries on a more or less per capita basis. Greater quantities were given to the great industrial powers, since the dominant opinion was that their reactivation would be essential for the general prosperity of Europe. Those allied nations received a little more help per capita than the former members of the Axis or who had remained neutral. The largest recipient of money from the Marshall Plan was the United Kingdom, which received 26% of the total, followed by France with 18% and the new West Germany with 11%. A total of 18 European countries benefited from the plan. Despite being promised during the war and offered, the Soviet Union refused to participate in the program for fear of loss of economic independence; with its refusal it also blocked the possible participation of Eastern European countries, such as East Germany or Poland.