# Marshall Plan assistance begins (1947)

URL: https://history-france.com/timeline/1947-marshall-plan-assistance-begins
Location: France

American aid supported reconstruction, investment and modernization. Within the broader Occupation, Liberation & Fourth Republic period, Defeat in 1940 divided France between Vichy, occupation and resistance. Liberation restored republican government, followed by reconstruction, welfare-state building, European integration and violent decolonization under the Fourth Republic. At this point in the timeline, the relevant governing authority is Vincent Auriol (President of the French Republic). Marshall Plan assistance begins mattered because it changed material life, state capacity, economic networks or France’s ability to project power. The event is positioned here so visitors can read it alongside changes in government, warfare, society, religion, culture and France’s wider international setting.

## Why it matters
Marshall Plan assistance begins mattered because it changed material life, state capacity, economic networks or France’s ability to project power.

Ruler at the time: [Vincent Auriol](https://history-france.com/rulers/vincent-auriol)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia topic lookup — Marshall Plan assistance begins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Marshall+Plan+assistance+begins&go=Go)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Marshall Plan assistance begins](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Marshall+Plan+assistance+begins)
- [Vie-publique — French institutions and history](https://www.vie-publique.fr/)