The Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Blockade

History · A Level: The origins and development of the Cold War, 1941-1950. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

In 1947 the USA gave up its tradition of staying out of European affairs in peacetime. The Truman Doctrine promised help to countries resisting communism. This policy was called containment: stop communism spreading, without trying to remove it where it already ruled.

The Marshall Plan was containment by money. American aid rebuilt Western Europe so that poverty would not push voters towards communism. Stalin refused it, kept Eastern Europe out and tightened his grip.

Berlin was the first direct test. When the West introduced a new currency in its zones, Stalin cut land routes to West Berlin. The airlift beat the blockade, and Europe ended up divided into two armed blocs.

Rules to remember

Truman Doctrine, March 1947: $400 million for Greece and Turkey and a pledge to support free peoples resisting takeover.
'Containment' reached the public through Kennan's 'X' article in Foreign Affairs, July 1947.
Marshall Plan, announced June 1947: about $13 billion to 16 European countries from 1948.
Cominform, September 1947: co-ordinated communist parties under Moscow. Comecon, January 1949: economic co-operation in the Soviet bloc.
Berlin Blockade: began in June 1948 after the Deutschmark was introduced; lifted in May 1949.
NATO, April 1949: a military alliance in which an attack on one member is an attack on all.
1949: Federal Republic of Germany (West) in May; German Democratic Republic (East) in October.

Common mistake

Do not confuse Cominform with Comecon. Cominform (1947) was political and controlled communist parties; Comecon (1949) was economic and was the Soviet answer to Marshall Aid.

Worked example

Stalin's aim in the Berlin Blockade was to force the West out of West Berlin or to stop a West German state. How far did he succeed?

The airlift supplied West Berlin for nearly eleven months, so the West stayed.
The Federal Republic of Germany was set up in May 1949, the month the blockade ended.
The crisis also helped to create NATO in April 1949, which tied the USA to Europe's defence.

Answer: He failed on both aims, and the blockade produced the very results he feared: a West German state and a Western military alliance.

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