American Aid Policy To Eastern Europe During The Cold War(1945—1968)

Foreign aid has been an important part of the American foreign policy. During the cold war, the United States has introduced the Marshall plan and the Fourth plan to aid the Western Europe and other poor countries. Because of its special geographical location, after the World War II Eastern Europe became the key area of competition between United States and the Soviet union. With the appearance of the containment strategy and the Sovietization of Eastern Europe, it wasn’t within the list of U.S. foreign aid, and the United States policy gradually became surrounded by blockade of Eastern Europe. With the division of Soviet and Yugoslavia in1948, the United States began to aid Yugoslavia, although the U.S. declared the aid was helped the independence of Yugoslavia, was inserted in the Soviet union forces within the scope of a ticking time bomb. The goal of aid to Yugoslavia was to divide and differentiate the socialist camp, at the same time, the final goal was impacting the Yugoslavia regime. The East German Uprising let U.S. see the discontent among the Eastern European satellite, thinking they can take some measures to influence the this sates. However after the Hungarian Eruption, U.S. adjusted the policy to Eastern Europe, evolution introduced subsequently. Under the evolution, aid was becoming an important mean. Poland was an important object of United States’aid policy. Since the aid to Yugoslavia from1948, at this time the United States was familiar with it. In the70s, with the easing situation of the cold war and enhancing of Eastern Europe, the United States increase the assistance to eastern Europe, leading to the upheaval in eastern Europe. It got the America’s political goals. But it was not until the end of the Johnson administration, America’s aid to eastern Europe is not large, the effects were not obvious. The reason were that the strategic position of eastern Europe and some contradictions of the policy decision. Within the Soviet sphere of influence, the United State’s policy to Eastern Europe, in effect, was decided around the Soviet union. In terms of assistance, the assistance to Eastern Europe was controlled by the Soviet union, the United States was afraid of the Soviet union to aid interference was going to lead the deterioration of the relations between the United States and the Soviet union and eastern Europe, and even war. Liberation and Evolution is always the basic principle in American policies, overriding the current regime f Eastern Europe was the long-term goal, drawing Western Europe over to export controls, which seriously obstacles the practice of the United State’s aid to Eastern Europe.