The United States and European Reconstruction 1945-1960

by Killick,John

• ISBN13: 9781579582289
• ISBN10: 1579582281
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-03-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

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.

Author Biography

John Killick is Lecturer in Economic History at Leeds University, England

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vi
List of Tables	vii
Abbreviations	ix
Introduction	1	(13)
Overview: Atlantic Trade and Payments, 1945--1960	14	(9)
Anglo-American Plans for Postwar Reconstruction	23	(9)
The North American Loans	32	(11)
America and Western Europe, 1944--1947	43	(13)
The Immediate Postwar Recovery, 1945--1947	56	(9)
The Crisis of 1947	65	(15)
The Origins and Intentions of the Marshall Plan	80	(14)
The Marshall Plan: Aims and Achievements	94	(11)
The Marshall Plan and the Larger Countries	105	(18)
The Marshall Plan and the Smaller Countries	123	(11)
The Marshall Plan and European Integration	134	(13)
The United States, Britian and European Unity	147	(8)
The Marshall Plan and European Society, 1945--1960	155	(16)
The End of the Dollar Gap, 1950--1970	171	(9)
Conclusion: Prosperity and Convergence	180	(9)
Suggestions for Further Reading	189	(10)
Index	199