Cold War Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Marshall Plan, Czechoslovak coup d'état, and formation of two German states=== {{Main|Marshall Plan|Western Bloc|1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état}} {{multiple image | border = infobox | image_gap = 20 | caption_align = center |align=right |direction=vertical |width=200 |image1=US-MarshallPlanAid-Logo.svg |caption1=The labeling used on the [[Marshall Plan]] economic [[aid]] to Western Europe |image2=Marshall Plan.png |caption2=Map of Cold War-era Europe and the [[Near East]] showing countries that received Marshall Plan aid. The red columns show the relative amount of total aid received per nation. |image3=Marshallplanhilfe.gif |caption3=Construction in [[West Berlin]] under Marshall Plan aid }} In early 1947, France, Britain and the United States unsuccessfully attempted to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union for a plan envisioning an economically self-sufficient Germany, including a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already taken by the Soviets.{{sfn|Miller|2000|p=16}} In June 1947, in accordance with the [[Truman Doctrine]], the United States enacted the [[Marshall Plan]], a pledge of economic assistance for all European countries willing to participate, including the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Miller|2000|p=16}} Under the plan, which President Harry S. Truman signed on 3 April 1948, the US government gave to Western European countries over $13 billion (equivalent to $189.39 billion in 2016) to rebuild the [[economy of Europe]]. Later, the program led to the creation of the [[OECD]]. The plan's aim was to rebuild the democratic and economic systems of Europe and to counter perceived threats to the [[European balance of power]], such as communist parties seizing control through revolutions or elections.{{sfn|Gaddis|1990|p=186}} The plan also stated that European prosperity was contingent upon German economic recovery.{{sfn|Dinan|2017|p=40}} One month later, Truman signed the [[National Security Act of 1947]], creating a unified [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]], the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA), and the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] (NSC). These would become the main bureaucracies for US defense policy in the Cold War.{{sfn|Karabell|1999|p=916}} Stalin believed that economic integration with the West would allow [[Eastern Bloc]] countries to escape Soviet control, and that the US was trying to buy a pro-US re-alignment of Europe.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=32}} Stalin therefore prevented Eastern Bloc nations from receiving Marshall Plan aid.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|p=32}} The Soviet Union's alternative to the Marshall Plan, which was purported to involve Soviet subsidies and trade with central and eastern Europe, became known as the [[Molotov Plan]] (later institutionalized in January 1949 as the [[Comecon|Council for Mutual Economic Assistance]]).{{sfn|LaFeber|1993|pp=194–197}} Stalin was also fearful of a reconstituted Germany; his vision of a post-war Germany did not include the ability to rearm or pose any kind of threat to the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Gaddis|2005|pp=105–106}} In early 1948, following reports of strengthening "reactionary elements", Czech Communists executed a [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état|coup d'état]] in [[Czechoslovakia]] (resulting in the formation of the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]] (9 May 1948)), the only Eastern Bloc state that the Soviets had permitted to retain democratic structures.{{sfn|Wettig|2008|p=86}} The public brutality of the coup shocked Western powers more than any event up to that point, set in motion a brief scare that war would occur, and swept away the last vestiges of opposition to the Marshall Plan in the United States Congress.{{sfn|Miller|2000|p=19}}{{sfn|Grenville|2005|pp=370–371}} In an immediate aftermath of the crisis, the [[London Six-Power Conference]] was held, resulting in the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] boycott of the Allied Control Council and its incapacitation, an event marking the beginning of the full-blown Cold War and the end of its prelude, as well as ending any hopes at the time for a single German government and leading to formation in 1949 of the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] and [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]].{{sfn|Wettig|2008|pp=96–100}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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