In the second episode of the CWCC, we look at how the US managed to tie Western Europe closer to its orbit through political strategy, closer cooperation and sheer economic investment. The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and NATO were critical building blocks in the Euro-American relationship in the late 1940s, and we get to grips with them here.

As the US worked with its beleaguered allies, the chronic lack of food as much as coal threatened disaster. With the dollar above all being the top currency of the shattered continent, a shortage of these same dollars represented disaster to many European states. The initial solution, so it seemed, was favourable loans. Eventually, the solution, stark as it was, was the provision of American sponsored grants. The provision of billions of dollars of aid to get the West back on track, so that it could stand up to communism and hold its own.

All the while, Moscow schemed, and the critical question of what to do with Germany loomed large. Neither question would be answered quickly, or without the expenditure of a great deal of effort, money and other resources. Although they were on the right track, there was much to be concerned about in this post-war world, and several challenges still lay on the horizon. The dangers of a communist takeover, or of the big freeze that the winter of 1947-48 presented, threatened ruin for Western civilisation, and one man in particular George C Marshall (pictured), believed that strategic charity, not a tough business sense, should take centre stage. Marshall Aid was en route, but would it get there in time?

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