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In this book John Killick introduces the reader to a key aspect of economic history: the impact of American economic intervention in Europe after World War II.
The effects of this impact are still open to debate. The Marshall Plan has traditionally been seen as a decisive turning-point in European economic and political history, but its effect is now being called into question.
Would Europe have revived spontaneously after 1945? Did American dollars "save the world" in 1947? Was American influence the underlying reason for the general drift away from socialism and the move towards European federalism in the late 1940s and early 1950s? If the Marshall Plan--in conjunction with NATO--created a coherent and prosperous western bloc, was this critical for the outcome of the Cold War? These are important questions, to which this careful analysis provides some new and accessible answers.
List of contents
Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Overview: Atlantic Trade and Payments, 1945–1960; Chapter 3 Anglo-American Plans for Postwar Reconstruction; Chapter 4 The North American Loans; Chapter 5 America and Western Europe, 1944–1947; Chapter 6 The Immediate Postwar Recovery, 1945–1947; Chapter 7 The Crisis of 1947; Chapter 8 The Origins and Intentions of the Marshall Plan; Chapter 9 The Marshall Plan: Aims and Achievements; Chapter 10 The Marshall Plan and the Larger Countries; Chapter 11 The Marshall Plan and the Smaller Countries; Chapter 12 The Marshall Plan and European Integration; Chapter 13 The United States, Britain and European Unity; Chapter 14 The Marshall Plan and European Society, 1945–1960; Chapter 15 The End of the Dollar Gap, 1950–1970; Chapter 16 Conclusion: Prosperity and Convergence;
About the author
John Killick
Summary
John Killick introduces a key aspect of economic history: the impact of American economic intervention in Europe after World War II. The Marshall Plan has been seen as a decisive turning-point in European economic and political history, but its effect is now being called into question.
