Hello, my name's Mr. Williams and I'm gonna be your history teacher today.

Today's lesson is part of a series of lessons about the origins of the Cold War from 1941 to 1958.

I'm really looking forward to teaching you today, so let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain the significance of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.

There are four keywords that are essential to understanding today's lesson.

They are Truman Doctrine, Truman's idea that it was the USA's responsibility to prevent the spread of communism around the world.

Containment, using American influence and military resources to prevent the spread of communism into non-communist countries.

Isolationism, an approach to international relations that is based on not getting involved in the affairs of other countries.

And Marshall Plan, an American programme of economic aid that aim to stop the spread of communism by supporting countries to recover from the Second World War.

Today's lesson is split into three parts.

In the first part, we're going to be learning about Truman's fears that communism had spread in Europe after the Second World War.

In his influential long telegram, George Kennan confirmed Truman's worst fears when he argued that Stalin wanted to see the destruction of capitalism and spread communism around the world.

Although his advisors assured him that the USSR was not yet strong enough to fight a war against the USA or her allies, Truman knew that communism could spread in other ways.

Europe had been devastated by World War II and many countries were in ruins.

Homes and businesses across Europe had been severely damaged along with infrastructure like roads and railways.

Millions of people were hungry, unemployed, and suffering.

In these conditions, communism could seem attractive to poorer people because it involved taking money from the richest in society and redistributing it more fairly.

Truman knew that Stalin did not need to fight a war to spread communism, and that he could achieve the same by persuading people to establish communist governments in their own countries.

To stop the spread of communism, Truman recognised it was essential to help European countries recover from the devastation of World War II.

He believed that if people had sufficient food, jobs, and housing, they would be less likely to support communism.

Truman had hoped that the post-war recovery efforts could be led by wealthier countries in Western Europe such as Britain.

However, after six years of war, Britain was almost bankrupt.

Since 1944, Britain had been supporting the government in Greece in their fight against communist rebels.

But in 1947, the British government announced that they could no longer continue to do this.

Truman knew that the USA had to act.

Let's take a moment now to your understanding.

Truman was concerned that the USSR would spread communism by going to war against the USA.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So on the screen now are two statements.

The first says, Truman was not worried about the spread of communism.

And the second says, Truman was worried the USSR could spread communism without using military force.

Which of these justifications is correct? Pause the video now, press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the second justification was correct.

Truman was worried the USSR would not need to go war to spread communism, but that they could spread it in other ways that did not require military force.

Very well done if you got that correct.

Let's do another check of your understanding.

I want you to write two or three sentences to describe conditions in post-war Europe.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see some example sentences.

Okay, well done for your efforts there.

You were asked to write two or three sentences to describe conditions in post-war Europe.

You might have written something like this.

Europe had been devastated by World War II.

Millions of people were hungry, unemployed, and suffering.

Homes, businesses and infrastructure had been badly damaged.

Well done if you managed to write something like that.

Let's do another check of your understanding.

Why was Britain unable to support European countries to recover after the Second World War? This time, I want you to explain your ideas to your partner.

Pause the video now, talk to your partner, and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope these discussions were useful.

You might have said something like this.

Britain was unable to provide aid to European countries after World War II because it was almost bankrupt after six years of war.

Well done if you managed to say something like that in your discussions.

We're now ready for the first practise task of today's lesson and I want you to answer this question.

Why did Truman believe that communism would spread more quickly in post-war Europe? Write one paragraph to explain.

You might wish to include the following words, devastated, poverty, attractive, richer, and poorer.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that first practise task.

You were asked to answer the question why did Truman believe that communism would spread more quickly in post-war Europe and you were asked to write a paragraph to answer this question.

Your answer may have looked something like this.

Europe had been devastated by the Second World War.

Many homes and businesses had been destroyed along with a lot of infrastructure.

Truman was concerned that communism would seem attractive to people in Europe after the war because there were high levels of poverty and suffering.

He worried that communism might appeal to the poorer people in society because it involved taking money away from the richer people and distributing it more fairly.

Well done if you wrote something like this.

We are now ready to move on to the second part of our lesson, which is examining Truman's efforts to stop the spread of communism in Europe through the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.

On the 12th of March, 1947, Truman made a speech to the US Congress announcing that the USA would be sending $400 million of aid to Greece and Turkey.

He also used this speech to outline what he considered to be the main differences between democracy and communism.

Truman said that the world was becoming divided into two armed groups and he contrasted the freedom in the democratic camp, the lack of freedom in the communist camp.

Truman likened the choice between democracy and communism to the choice between good and evil and said, "It must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." The ideas in this speech became known as the Truman Doctrine and they signalled a major shift in American foreign policy.

Before World War II, a policy of isolationism meant that the USA tried where possible to avoid becoming involved in the affairs of other countries.

The Truman Doctrine replaced the policy of isolationism with one of containment which would involve the USA using its economic and military strength to lead the fight against the spread of communism.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

The Truman Doctrine committed the USA to a policy of containment.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, very well done if you said that that was true, but we need to be able to justify our answers.

On the screen are two justifications.

A says, this meant the USA would take a leading role in stopping communism from spreading around the world.

And B says, this meant the USA would continue a policy of isolationism and focus only on stopping communism in the USA.

Which of these justifications is true? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, very well done if you picked justification A which says, it's meant the USA would take a leading role in stopping communism from spreading around the world.

Let's check your understanding again with this next task.

I want you to write two sentences to describe how American foreign policy changed from before World War II to 1947.

And I want you to use the following words, isolationism, communism, containment, and Truman.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, well done for all your efforts on that task.

Your answer could have included before the Second World War, the USA followed a policy of isolationism.

In 1947, Truman committed the USA to a policy of containment to stop the spread of communism.

Well done if your response looked something like that one.

Truman supported his policy of containment by introducing a major economic aid package for Europe.

It was officially called the European Recovery Plan or ERP, but it became known as the Marshall Plan because it was announced by the US Secretary of State General George Marshall in June 1947.

Truman and Marshall believed that if the USA could help countries recover economically and provide employment and prosperity, people would be less likely to turn to communism.

To contain the spread of communism, the USA sent $12.

7 billion of aid to countries in Western Europe between 1948 and 1952.

In addition to the $13 billion that they had already given before the Marshall Plan was introduced.

As part of the Marshall Plan, aid was provided in the form of money, machinery, food, and technological assistance.

In return for receiving this aid, countries would agree to buy American goods and allow American companies to invest in their businesses.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

Between 1948 and 1952, how much aid was sent to Western Europe as part of the Marshall Plan? Was it A, $1.

27 billion, B, $12.

7 billion, or C, $127 billion? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct answer was B, $12.

7 billion.

Let's do another check.

What was the official name of the Marshall Plan? Was it A, the Economic Recovery Plan, B, the European Recovery Plan, or C, the European Regeneration Plan? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the official name of the Marshall Plan was B, the European Recovery Plan.

We're now ready to move on to the second practise task of today's lesson, which is split into two parts.

In part one, I want you to explain why there was a shift in American foreign policy after the Second World War.

I want you to answer in one short paragraph and you should include the following words, isolationism, containment, communism, and Truman Doctrine.

Pause the video now, press play when you're ready to see our model answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that first part of our second practise task.

You were asked to explain why there was a shift in American foreign policy after the Second World War.

And you might have written something like this.

Before the Second World War, the USA had followed a policy of isolationism in which they attempted to avoid involvement in the affairs of other countries.

However, after World War II, Truman was concerned about the spread of communism.

As a result, his Truman Doctrine committed the USA to a policy of containment, which would involve the USA taking the lead in stopping communism from spreading to non-communist countries.

Really well done if you wrote something like the model answer we've just gone through.

Let's move to the second part of our practise task.

For this second part, I want you to explain why Truman believed that the Marshall Plant would help to contain the spread of communism.

Again, I want you to answer it in one paragraph and you should include the following words, contain, devastation, aid, poverty, recover, and communism.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see our model answer.

Okay, well done for all your hard work on that second part of our practise task.

You were asked to explain why Truman believed that the Marshall Plan would help to contain the spread of communism.

And your answer may have looked something like this.

Truman believed that the Marshall Plan would help to contain the spread of communism because he believed that communism spread more rapidly in countries where there were high levels of poverty and suffering.

Truman believed that by giving aid to help European countries recover from the devastation of World War II, it would be possible to contain the spread of communism as these countries would not be attracted by the ideology.

Brilliant work if your answer looks something like that one.

We're now ready to move on to the third and final part of today's lesson where we'll be looking at the Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.

Stalin saw the Marshall Plan as an aggressive attempt to extend American influence.

He believed that Truman wanted to divide Europe and create an American economic empire, which would involve the USA using their wealth to control countries in Europe and around the world.

The Soviets called this dollar imperialism.

The Marshall Plan represented a challenge to Stalin and he responded by setting up two new organisations for the communist countries of Europe, Cominform and Comecon.

Cominform, the Communist Information Bureau, was established in 1947 to allow the USSR to coordinate control communist parties across Europe.

Cominform initially had nine members, the Communist Party of the USSR and the communist parties of the satellite states of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, along with Yugoslavia, France, and Italy.

The satellite states that were members of Cominform were encouraged to trade with other Cominform members and to minimise contact with non-communist countries.

At the first meeting of Cominform, the members rejected Marshall Plan aid and began to spread propaganda comparing the USA to Nazi Germany.

Part of the reason that Cominform was established was to ensure communists in other countries followed orders from the USSR.

In 1948, Yugoslavia was expelled from Cominform because the country's leader Tito clashed with Stalin.

Let's take a moment now to take your understanding.

What were people in the USSR describing when they use the term dollar imperialism? I want you to discuss this question with your partner.

So pause the video, have a conversation with your partner, and then press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, I hope those discussions were useful.

You might have said something like this.

People in the USSR use the term dollar imperialism to describe what they saw as American attempts to create an economic empire and to use their wealth to control countries.

Let's do another quick check for understanding.

Cominform was established by Stalin in 1947.

What was its main purpose? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that question.

Your answer could have included the following.

The main purpose of Cominform was to coordinate and control communist parties across Europe.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's do one final quick check.

Cominform members rejected Marshall Plan aid.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct response.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct answer was true, Cominform members did reject Marshall Plan aid, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So on the screen now are two justifications.

The first says, Cominform members rejected Marshall Plan aid, but remained on friendly terms with the USA.

And the second one says, Cominform members rejected Marshall Plan aid and became increasingly hostile to the USA.

Which of these justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct response.

Okay, well done if you said that the correct answer was justification B, Cominform members rejected Marshall Plan aid and they became increasingly hostile to the USA.

In some propaganda, the USA was even compared to Nazi Germany.

Well done if you got that correct.

The second organisation established by Stalin in response to the Marshall Plan was Comecon, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, and it was established in 1949.

Stalin had not allowed communist states to accept Marshall Plan aid, however, he knew that if he did not offer an alternative, it would be difficult for the USSR to keep control of these countries.

Therefore, Stalin set up Comecon to provide aid to East European communist countries.

In addition to the USSR, Comecon's members included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and East Germany, with Albania joining in 1950.

Member states were encouraged to trade with one another and discourage from trading with the USA or Western Europe.

Although it was originally established as a way for the USSR to provide financial support to communist countries, Comecon was increasingly used as a way of controlling them.

For example, after 1953, members were required to adopt five-year plans, ambitious economic policies, to develop industry and agriculture in line with communist principles.

The Marshall Plan successfully bound Western European countries to supporting the USA.

Stalin's response to it meant that Europe is now sharply divided into two camps.

The rivalry between east and west would dominate the next 50 years.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

Comecon was established by Stalin in 1949.

What was its main purpose? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that question.

You might have said something like this.

The main purpose of Comecon was to provide aid to the communist countries of Eastern Europe.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's do another quick check.

Comecon was increasingly used by the USSR to control the economies of communist countries in Eastern Europe.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that the answer was true, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So on the screen are two justifications.

The first says, after 1953, members of Comecon had to adopt two-year plans for their industry and agriculture.

And the second says, after 1953, members of Comecon had to adopt five-year plans for their industry and agriculture.

Which of these justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, very well done if you said that the second justification was correct, after 1953, members of Comecon had to adopt five-year plans for their industry and agriculture.

Let's move on now to the final practise task of today's lesson.

I want you to explain the importance of the Marshall Plan for increasing Cold War tensions after 1947.

You should identify two ways that increase Cold War tensions and write two paragraphs to explain how.

Pause the video now, answer the question, and press play when you're ready to see our model answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that final practise task.

You were asked to write two paragraphs to explain the importance of the Marshall Plan for increasing Cold War tensions after 1947.

For your first paragraph, you might have written something like this.

The Marshall Plan was important for increasing Cold War tensions because Stalin viewed it as an attempt to spread American influence.

Truman believed that the Marshall Plan is necessary to stop the spread of communism in Eastern Europe, however, Stalin saw it as an aggressive act.

Many people in the USSR believed the Americans were attempting to use a policy of dollar imperialism.

In response, Stalin established Cominform to control and coordinate communist parties across Europe, and under pressure from the USSR, members would reject Marshall Plan aid.

Well done if you've written a paragraph that looks something like this.

For your second paragraph, you might have written something like this.

The Marshall Plan was also important for increasing Cold War tensions because it helped divide Europe into two rival camps.

Countries in Western Europe, which had accepted Marshall Plan aid, were generally supportive of the USA.

On the other hand, the USSR extended its control over the communist countries in Eastern Europe by establishing Cominform and Comecon, and these countries became increasingly hostile to the USA and its allies in Western Europe.

For example, members of Comecon were encouraged to trade with one another and to avoid trade with non-communist countries.

Well done if your second paragraph looks something like this.

Before we finish today's lesson, let's summarise our key learning points.

Truman was concerned that communists might spread easily in post-war Europe because of high levels of poverty.

From 1947 onwards, the Truman Doctrine committed the USA to stopping the spread of communism through a policy of containment.

The Marshall Plan supported European countries to recover from World War II because it was believed that this would make it harder for communism to spread.

Stalin responded with Cominform and Comecon.

The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and Stalin's response helped to divide Europe into two, politically and economically.

Well done for all of your hard work and efforts this lesson.

It's been a real pleasure teaching you.

And I look forward to teaching you again in the near future.