<P> At the end of the war , millions of people were dead and millions homeless , the European economy had collapsed , and much of the European industrial infrastructure had been destroyed . The Soviet Union , too , had been heavily affected . In response , in 1947 , U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall devised the `` European Recovery Program '' , which became known as the Marshall Plan . Under the plan , during 1948 -- 1952 the United States government allocated US $13 billion ( US $139 billion in 2016 dollars ) for the reconstruction of Western Europe . </P>
what was an economic effect of world war ii
much of the European industrial infrastructure had been destroyed