Truman Doctrine And Marshall Plan Essay

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Assess the impact of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan on the development of the Cold War.
Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan had a great impact on the Cold war in its early years; it was the reason behind the development of the Cold War. It was the reason for the spark between the two superpowers’ ideologies. It showed both superpowers the threat they are in and the importance of expanding because without expansion the countries will end up being diminished by the opposite superpower. The early years of the Cold War was the start of the conflict between the moat powerful two countries, which are the US, and the USSR. It made a smooth solution to Stalin and Truman’s aversions towards each other impossible, as the two powers could no longer compromise. The several reasons that developed the Cold war were the refusal of the Marshall aid, the policy of containment, and the clash of ideologies.
The first thing that stirred the Cold war was the Soviets refusal to take the Marshall Aid, because they thought it was an attempt to make Europe dependent on the capitalist countries and in this way the Capitalist countries can expand their empire. Countries in that time needed aid so they will get easily convinced by ideologies to get the aid needed to keep on developing and recover from the previous war which was World War 2.Therefore, this created their own solution to the economic problems by introducing cominform to Russia and all of its satellite states. This resulted to an economic division between the Eastern and the Western European countries, between communist controlled and capitalist countries and it represented the division of the iron curtain Churchill had described in 1946 speech . This geographical divide between the two s...

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...so they get the safety needed. The USA also attempted to expand but in a much more secret way, through the Marshall Plan, the Western European states became more dependant on the USA, which gave Truman immeasurable power overseas. Both Stalin and Truman saw the expansionism of the opposite as aggressive action and their animosity became more determined.

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan played a great role in the further development of the Cold War; it was one of the most important. At least as important was the clashing of ideologies and what it brought with it. All in all, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan triggered the conflict between the USA and the USSR. Its importance in the development of the Cold War was only rivaled by the ideological clash between the two states. It leads them from simple mistrust which evolved to hatred and loathing.

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