The 'Iron Curtain' (Displayed by two colours)
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The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Aid and Soviet expansion
By 1947, Stalin had taken over a lot of Eastern European Countries. As shown by the picture to the left, the USSR was slowly, but surely, gaining control over European Countries. These countries acted as 'Buffer Zones'. Buffer zones were countries that Stalin had control of which he would use as a slow down if anyone decided to try and attack the USSR.To Atlee and Truman, these Countries had been infected with Communism, and no more countries could be lost. Otherwise, the hold and influence USA and British held within Europe would be gradually lost. Stalin was also taking advantage of the free elections in these countries by rigging them to make his Communist parties win the elections, giving him overall control. This type of action had to stop, otherwise Europe would be overwhelmed by Communist rule, and Stalin would gain to much power. This is where the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid come in which were cleverly devised plans to gain some control in Europe.
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Truman Doctrine
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The Truman Doctrine was an American Foreign Policy to prevent the spread of Communism throughout Europe. It was first announced by Harry Truman (the American president at the time) on March 12th 1947 in which he stated that support would be given to any countries within Europe that faced the threat of Communist/Soviet rule and wanted to be helped by the USA.
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Marshall Aid/Plan
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The Marshall plan, or European recovery program, was the aid of Western European countries in the form of money and goods. A total of $13 billion US Dollars was used to support Countries in dire need of support and assistance if they agreed not turn to Stalin for help. The plan was in operation for 4 years in total and began taking effect in April 1948. Great Britain received about 26% of the money, mainly due to the fact that they were America's 'best mate' during this time. France followed, receiving 18% with Germany receiving 11%. Many other countries were also given aid however, the proportion of money was no where near as large as the amounts given to the main 3 European Countries.
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