welcome to this rapid revision video looking at the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan but also having a quick look at common form and ComiCon as responses to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan so let's get right into it Truman Doctrine the Kenan Long Telegram of 1946 which I've done a separate video on had alarmed Truman he knew that so many European states have been ruined by World War II that Stalin might be able to expand the USSR without even needing to go to war terrible living condition for the poor would make it easier for Stalin to convince them that communism was the answer and their future Britain was bankrupted by the war so the USA would need to lead Europe's reconstruction Truman came up with a Doctrine designed to prevent this a Doctrine is basically a way of doing things he decided that communism should not be allowed to spread that the USA would give economic aid to prevent Communism spread and if necessary the USA would send troops to stop communism but that would be a last Resort as a start when Britain could no longer afford to Aid those fighting communism in the Greek Civil War in 1947 trumman announced $400 million in American Aid to Greece and Turkey in order to help those countries resist the Communist takeover Truman outlined his Doctrine in a speech to Congress which was delivered on the 12th of March 1947 just before this part of the speech Truman had described American democracy as representing Freedom making it different to Stalin's oppressive government in the USSR the second way of life I.E communism rather than democracy is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed on the majority it relies upon Terror and oppression a controlled press and radio fixed elections and the suppression of personal freedom I believe that our help should be through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes the way that this economic stability was delivered was no as martial Aid many European countries have been physically ruined by World War II the USA had already given $ 13 billion in aid but would add another 12.7 billion under what was known as Marshall Aid and it was really needed have a look at the photo down the bottom here you might imagine that this is a photograph of one of the defeated countries and then you notice the familiar red London buses and black taxis yes this is the bomb damage in London still not cleared up years after the war so martial Aid was the financial response to Truman Doctrine although it took 10 years or more for the impact to be really felt this Aid was vital to get European Democracies back on their feet by financially saving these countries the USA hoped it was preventing the spread of Communism and another War here was a comment that was made by British foreign secretary Ernest bevon in response to Marshal Aid he said it is like a Lifeline to sinking men giving them hope where there was none let's consider how martial a was shared out martial Aid was named after George Marshall who was the US Secretary of State in the main it gave money directly to governments who could then spend it as they saw fit this pie chart shows how it was divided up among some of the countries in Europe you can see that the US main Ally the United Kingdom got a massive $3.2 billion that's a huge amount of money today let alone back in 1947 1948 however Aid might be more direct too they might give food to the St in livestock to Farmers and help to Industry there was debate over offering Aid to Soviet satellite States and the USSR to after all the USSR had really suffered in World War II and had been an ally but it was clear that Stalin would never allow this Eastern Europe went without speaking of Stalin's reaction let's compare it to what George C Marshall the secretary of state had laid out he said our policy is directed not against the country or doctrine but against hunger poverty desperation and Chaos its purpose should be the Revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist well predictably Stalin's interpretation of Martial Aid was not supportive he saw it as evidence of the USA seeking world domination as laid out in the novakov telegram in 1946 this further set the scene for half a century of rival Y and mistrust in the Cold War any remnant of the Grand Alliance of World War II was now gone the USSR decided to respond and they did so with two organizations cominform and ComiCon we're going to consider those now firstly common form the Communist information Bureau that's where common form comes from was set up on September the 22nd 1947 this united the Communist parties of the USSR with the Soviet satellite state of Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Hungary Poland Romania and Yugoslavia but it also involved the Communist parties of both Italy and France even though they weren't ruling Marshall Tito the Communist dictator of Yugoslavia threw his support behind common form and so the headquarters was based in Belgrade in Yugoslavia however in June 1948 relations between Yugoslavia and the USSR deteriorated and so the HQ was moved to Bucharest in Romania after all Marti Tito was running things in Yugoslavia with a bit more freedom than others because the Red Army was not in his country so what were the common form aims put very simply common form gave Stalin significant additional control over communist Ali States as shown in this map Moscow directed the policies and decisions of the governments in common form countries states were encouraged to trade with each other and not with non-communist countries that means that the states were discouraged from contact with non-communist countries that weren't part of Comm form Comm form rejected the Marshall Plan propaganda likened the USA to Nazi Germany seeking to take over Europe but that brings in the next organization which was much more focused on trade ComiCon is the shortened form of the Communist Council for Mutual economic assistance and it was formed on the 25th of January 1949 you can see from these logos that it's a pretty modern looking organization encouraging modernization of towns but also you can see with the star symbol at the top there the encouragement of trade going back towards communist controlled States because Stalin had forbidden any of the Communist States to accept aid for the Marshall Plan ComiCon was introduced as a communist alternative that he could control by 1950 it included the USSR Bulgaria Hungary Poland Czechoslovakia Romania and East Germany and Albania let's consider its aims first of all ComicCon was a more direct competitor to the Marshall Plan focused on improving economic conditions for its members ComicCon arranged trade and credits or loan agreements between countries it coordinated industrial and economic planning each state had a 5-year plan for economic recovery and we know how the Soviets love a 5-year plan don't we IT collectivized industry and agriculture in member states in other words making them the property of the states rather than individuals ComicCon lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 in one form or another but in its early days its effects were as follows member states increased trade with each other for example 90% of Bulgaria's trade was from ComicCon member states by 1951 that was up from 10% a massive change and realignment of their economic policies it also introduced a divide between communist and non-communist states in Europe contributing to the creation of NATO on the Warsaw packed alliances here we can see the economic effects of what Churchill called the Iron Curtain so let's sum up Truman Doctrine aimed to prevent the spread of Communism by providing economic aid it was hoped that this would avoid armed confrontation with the USSR martial Aid was an additional 12.7 billion to support European countries as they recovered from World War II it also allowed the USA to build relations with many countries in Europe but there was a Soviet response Stalin refused to allow Communist States to accept martial Aid instead the USSR introduced comform to get Communist States to take orders from Moscow and the USSR also introduced ComiCon to coordinate economic plans providing an alternative to martial Aid ultimately this led to Greater division between West and East so that's the end of this video I hope it's given you everything that you need and if it has please do like the video and subscribe to the channel for more Cold War topics if there's anything that you're desperate for me to cover do stick it in the comments below and I'll do what I can thanks very much for your engagement with this series so far and thanks for watching this video but for now thanks and goodbye