3 ms·
Just to fill in the gaps. Countries in the Russian sphere of influence actually refused the Marshall plan because it would make the commies look bad. And they d
by literallycancer 7y ago
Just to fill in the gaps. Countries in the Russian sphere of influence actually refused the Marshall plan because it would make the commies look bad. And they didn't have nearly as good recovery as Western Europe. So it probably had some effect.
- WalterBright 7y agoThe eastern bloc countries never caught up with any of the western countries. Their economies didn't really get into gear until after the collapse of the USSR. The strong correlation of postwar prosperity is with how much of a free market was embraced. It's the same with post-war Japan. They embraced the free market after being burned flat in WW2, and rose to world dominance by the 1980's.
- pault 6y agoAlternatively, one could argue that postwar prosperity was strongly correlated with friendly diplomatic relations with the US, the only major world power that didn't have its entire industrial capacity reduced to rubble during the war. Saying that the Eastern Bloc countries floundered solely because of a lack of a free market when they were militarily occupied by a disastrously incompetent foreign power sounds like an oversimplification to me.
- ciceryadam 6y agoIt was more about central planning, collectivisation of private property, and lack of management (directors where assigned based on politics), than occupation by force. Austria was under soviet occupation till 1955, but they were still lucky to become a free market country afterwards. Romania was occupied till 1958, Hungary from 1956, Czechoslovakia from 1968. Poland and Bulgaria were not occupied after 2nd world war, but their economy was still in shambles.