The interplay of power in the Marshall Plan is an interesting one. World War II had created two superpowers. Europe was a bombed-out mess, so even though Great Britain was in the winner's circle, it had taken a bunch of lumps to get there.
The Soviet Union had taken it on the chin as well, but there was a lot more Russia than there was England. Not only that, but the Soviet Union had a bunch of allied communist states to help out, while Britain was in the process of losing its empire piece by piece. This left the USA and USSR as the sole powers in the world, and the Marshall and Molotov Plans were ways to divide the world in two.
Questions About Power
- If the U.S. had the power to fight the expansion of the Soviet Union, was it obligated to take that measure? What if a country chose democratically to be communist?
- What are the moral limits of power when it comes to international relations? Armed takeover of another country seems to be a limit. Should it be? What are others?
- After the war, the USA and USSR had the most power in the world, and the struggle over the rest of the world led to the Cold War. If the Marshall Plan exacerbated tensions, was it worth it? Should the U.S. just have left Europe alone?
- Power over the countries who received aid was an effect of the Marshall Plan and the reason communist-led countries opted out. Was it the main goal? Should it have been?
Chew on This
The U.S. did only one thing wrong with the Marshall Plan: it didn't exercise its power to the limits. If it had, the USSR would have collapsed much earlier than it did.
The U.S. should never have exercised its power in Europe. Like any use of power, it created a hugely damaging struggle, in this case, the Cold War.