What was good for Germany in 1953 is good for Greece in 2015

Economic assistance under the Marshall plan was important to both countries, but it was the granting of debt relief that made a difference to the Germans

The arguments being used by the Greek government to secure debt relief can be traced back to a little-reported speech made to the students of Harvard University on 5 June 1947.

It was there that George Marshall, the then US secretary of state, floated the idea of a European programme of economic reconstruction. The Americans saw that Europe was on the brink of economic collapse. Industrial capacity had been wiped out. Trade had ceased. People were going hungry and, in Marshall's view, at risk of turning to communism.

Related: Greece and Spain helped postwar Germany recover. Spot the difference | Nick Dearden