Marshall Plan in Greece

From 1948 to 1952, Greece received large amounts of economic aid from the United States under the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan, named after US Secretary of State George Marshall, who proposed it in 1947. Greece had been devastated by World War II and the occupation, and the civil war caused further destruction. Much of its infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways and ports, had been destroyed, and many villages had been burned or abandoned. The Marshall Plan provided Greece with food, fuel, machinery and funding, along with the earlier Truman Doctrine aid. The money was used to rebuild infrastructure, expand electricity production, improve agriculture and support industry. American advisers gained great influence over the Greek economy. The aid was significant for Greece, which received one of the largest amounts per person among the participating countries. It helped stabilize the economy and laid the foundations for the rapid economic growth of the 1950s and 1960s, often called the Greek economic miracle, although much of the early aid was spent on the civil war.