American+Role+in+Europe+2nd+Period

=American Role in Europe= With Europe's former powers weakened by war, the United States and the USSR emerged as the world's leading powers, each with political paradigms diametrically opposed to the other. Each attempted to sway as much of the world as possible to their philosophy, leading to the Marshal Plan, the Greek and Turkish civil war, the Truman doctrine, and a struggle over former European colonies. == =__**The Marshall Plan**__= On June 5, 1947, George C. Marshall spoke at Harvard University regarding his new idea to help restore Europe. This idea came to be known as the Marshall Plan and the European Recovery Plan with credit also going to William Clayton and George Kennan. In this plan, the U.S. offered up to $20 billion for relief in Europe as long as they could produce a rational plan to use the funds. Aid was given to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Aid was also offered to the USSR but Stalin denounced the plan as a trick and refused to participate. The Marshall Plan’s initial purpose was to help recover Europe because the war left many cities in ruins and people in poverty, but it was also meant to prevent communism. The plan was also beneficial to the U.S. because the money given would be used to buy goods from America, using American merchant ships to cross the Atlantic. The plan ended in 1951 when the U.S. became involved in the Korean conflict. Also, the Republicans disapproved of the plan and voted down efforts to extend the plan when they gained control of the house and senate. The Marshall Plan was a success and “considered the beginning step toward forming a union of the European countries.” George Marshall received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his post-war efforts and was the only U.S. Army General to have ever received it.

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 * The Berlin Airlift, Greek Civil War, and Turkish Civil Wars**

-**The Berlin Airlift**

1948 to 1949, a supply of needed essentials from the US military to the people in West Berlin. It was launched in response to a land and water blockade of the city that had been held by the Soviet Union in the hope that the Allies would be forced to leave West Berlin. The huge effort to supply the 2 million West Berliners with food and fuel for heating began in June of 1948, and lasted until Sept of 1949, although the Russians lifted the blockade in May of that year. During the around-the-clock airlift about 277,000 flights were made, most did at 3-min intervals. Lt. Tunner took command of airlift operations on July 28, 1948. The airlift had been operating for just over a month. One of the first major changes he made came as a result of "Black Friday". On Friday, August 13, Tunner flew into Berlin to grant an award to Lt. Paul O. Lykins, and airlift pilot who had made the most flights into Berlin up until that time. That day the weather was awful, and conditions in Berlin were horrible. One C-54 had crashed and burned at the end of the runway then a second plane landed behind him and blew its tires trying to stop to avoid hitting the burning C-54. A third ground looped on the auxiliary runway. Aircraft's were beginning to stack up over Tempelhof and a huge number of airplanes were circling from 3,000 to 12,000 ft in no visibility conditions. The conditions led Tunner to make a decision. To avoid this stacking problem, a new policy was created. Any aircraft that missed its approach was to continue back to its station through the center corridor. If a pilot missed his approach, he would immediately switch to a departure and head back to his base. In addition, all aircraft were required to fly by instrument rules to maintain the same speed, interval and altitude. This almost depleted accidents and became the key to the success of the operation.

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-**The Greek Civil War**

The night of March 30, 1946, thirty-three communist guerillas (under Ypsilantis) entered the town of Litochoron (North Greece) and attacked the local Gendarmerie. In the short battle that preceded the infiltration, 13 Gendarmes were killed. This was the first armed confrontation of the civil war. After liberation, internal Greek quarrels led to the outbreak of the Civil War. Because Northern Greek’s mountainous terrain and common borders with the Communist Balkan countries, it turned into the center of the conflict. The fighting was extremely destructive in western and central Macedonia. A large number of citizens evacuated the war zone and traveled to the bigger cities, producing a mass of refugees. At this time, former SNOF fighters put up a new pro-Yugoslav organization called Naroden Osloboditelen Front or (NOF), returned to Greece and sided with the Greek Communists. However, the 1948 Moscow-Belgrade breach led to the Greek communist party’s (KKE) decision to side with Moscow. In 1949, KKE's decision to back up the formation of a "United Macedonia", took place with political and military developments in Greece. This brought about the defeat of the Communist forces. After 1949, (NOF) fighters retreated to Yugoslavia; along with them went the section of the Slavic-speaking population who did not share the Greek national identity. While the Communists were joining with Soviets, The United States were helping the Non-Communists.

[|www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?103467-The-Greek-Civil-War] [|www.macedonian-heritage.gr/HellenicMacedonia/en/A4.3.3.html]

-**The Turkish Civil War**

During the Cold War, Turkey participated in the Korean War as a member state of the United Nations, suffering 731 deaths in combat. The fear of a Soviet invasion and Stalin's unconcealed desire to control the Turkish Straits eventually led Turkey to give up its principle of neutrality in foreign relations and join NATO on February 18, 1952. Following NATO membership the Turkey initiated a comprehensive modernization program for its Armed Forces.

The Turkish Civil War (1978–present), began when a rebellious group broke out against the Federation of Turkey, then which they seized power in the Short Revolution on April 27,1978. Preceding the Short Revolution, Turkey became a political toy for Germany. The rebels led incidentally to the German military interference in Turkey. The German work was hostile. Turkey's anti-government rebels, aka the (Turkish National Front), found back up from a diverse amount of countries including: the United Kingdom, France, and Saudi Arabia. The final German set back began on May 15, 1988, and ended on February 15, 1989. Three years post the withdraw, the Federation of Turkey broke down to the TNF resistance. Once the government collapsed, Afghanistan later on, experienced a state of anarchy until 1996, when the new government- the Republic of Afghanistan declared rule. The ROA gained popular support, and by 1998, all anti-Republican forces were forced into the northeastern parts of Turkey. They held on until 2002.

[|www.althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Turkish_Civil_War_%28The_World_Exhaled%29]

=**The Truman Doctrine** =



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The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by the united states President [|Harry S Truman] on March 12, 1947 saying that the U.S. would support [|Greece] and [|Turkey] with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the [|Soviet] sphere ======

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Truman stated the Doctrine would be "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.“He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they urgently needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave consequences throughout the region”. The Truman doctrine helped support all countries, and declined communism. This doctrine also consisted of marshal aid which was money offered to European countries . ======   After world war one ended, the United States and the Soviet Union soon became the worlds leading powers. The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism throughout Europe and Asia. This was a struggle for the communist world, as well as the United States. This became the cold war. In 1947 when communism started gaining strength and trying to take control of Greece and trying to get military bases in Turkey. “ President Truman announced that the United States would provide military and economic aid to any country threatened by Communism. American aid helped Greece and Turkey resist Communist aggression.”

wordbookonline.com www.doug-long.com/**truman**.htm www.**truman**library.org/

**Decolonization**
**With the east and west blocs jockeying to spread their political ideals to any part of the world that would have them, a new battleground opened up: the former colonies of the European powers. During World War II, President Truman convinced Prime Minister Winston Churchill to endeavor to let “all nations of the world chart their own political course.” ([]) This along with several other factors including the European powers’ heavily depleted resources, their need to focus on their own reconstruction, and a desire to prevent the formation of Communist resistance movements within the colonies, led to many colonies’ being granted independence throughout the mid 1900’s.** **Not all colonies separated quietly. One such example was French Indochina, now Vietnam. In 1945, the Japanese (who had been using the territory for military purposes via an agreement with the French) took over the area and ousted all of France’s officials. Still not impressed, a member of the Indochinese Communist Party, Ho Chi Minh, and others from the same party formed the Vietminh, an organization dedicated to national unity. Japan agreed to surrender, and soon the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was formed. They hoped this move would trigger U.S. support, but went unrequited, given the United States’ declared opposition to communism.** **Soon France tried to reclaim its colonies, using Marshal plan money to further its war efforts. Vietnam rebuffed these efforts, and finally a council of nations was held in Geneva Switzerland (why is it always there?) to determine what should happen next to Vietnam. It was decided that Vietnam should have its independence, divided into North and South Vietnam, which would hold an election including both to see who would govern all of Vietnam. The South Vietnamese, with assistance from the U.S., refused the election, not wanting Ho Chi Minh to be elected. However, some in the South remained loyal to the idea of communism, and this would become painfully evident later with the Vietnam War (known to the Vietnamese as the American War).**

**Sources:** **"Vietnam." World Book Student.World Book, 2011. Web. 28 April 2011** ** "Colonialism." World Book Student. 2011. [Alta High School.] 26 April 2011 < [] >. ** ** "World War II." World Book Student.World Book, 2011. Web. 26 April 2011 [] (same as above)**