The greatest challenge for Germany after World War II was economics. Nothing remained of Germany except rubble and graves. It was impossible for the Germans go get food and clean drinking water. It was even more impossible for the Germans to find paying jobs. In addition to this Germany also had on its hands four million refugees and prisoners to feed that it did not have in 1939. In 1939 Germany could only produce 70 to 85 percent of its food now it had another four million to feed. The Soviet Union occupied most of Germany's prime agricultural land and not much of the food produced went to Germany.

After the war German industry was limited to what and how much of certain goods could be produced. German factories were dismantled for payment in war reparations. In the east, industries were nationalized and utilities were socialized. The Soviets sucked the life out of East Germany by setting up so-called joint stock companies, which enabled the Communists to control production and sales of goods produced.

In 1948, a currency reform and the money given to them by the Marshall Plan saved West Germany. This helped lay a basis for West German economy.

Britain also had a crisis in foreign trade. After World War II Britain was unable to remove the controls it had put in place during the war and in turn had to extend them. Clothes were still rationed until 1949 and food rationing did not completely end until 1954. This was made necessary because of the excess of imports over exports, which had come because of the need to replace wartime losses and machinery. British industries made a rapid recovery and the shipping fleet was enlarged through an active building program. This was all made possible by the loans that Britain received through the Marshall Plan. Even though there was an increase in exports there was still an unfavorable balance of trade. This forced Britain to cut back in military commitments and expenditures.

Even before World War II Italy was considered a "have not" country. World War II just made Italy's situation worse. Italy possesses too few of the raw materials which was unable to offset the expanding population. After World War II Italy discovered that she possessed rich deposits of methane gas and some oil deposits. But this alone was not enough to keep Italy's head above the water. Grants and loans from the U.S. in the form of the Marshall Plan did much to improve the Italians position. Italian expansion occurred in the years between 1958 and 1962. Even after this expansion in foreign trade, Italy's imports exceeded their exports and Italy had to start relying on tourists to offset these expenses.

After World War

Some common words found in the essay are:
War II, Marshall Plan, Communist Russian, Monnet Plan, II Britain, Soviet Union, United Nations, French France, Bank England, II Italy, world war, world war ii, war ii, marshall plan, ii italy, european countries, raw materials, foreign trade, impossible germans, war ii italy,
Approximate Word count = 1022
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)