Why did Australia become involved in the Vietnam War?
Australia first came involved in the Vietnam conflict in 1962 when the Australian Government sent a team of thirty army advisers to help train the South Vietnamese Army for its fight against the NLF guerrillas. At the same time a squadron of Royal Australian Air Force fighters were sent to nearby Thailand. While the alliance with the USA was becoming increasingly important, Australia still had strong ties with Britian. In January 1965, Australia sent an army of battalion to help Britain denfend newly independent Malaysia against border raids by Indonesia. Only three months later the Australian Prime Minister Menzies announced the commitment of another battalion to help the USA in
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What was the impact of the war on Australia and neighbouring countries?
Over two million Vietnamese died on both sides during the war and many more suffered horrifying injuries. Approximately half of all Vietnamese casualties were civilians and the major cause of their deaths was massive US bombing and shelling of villages in NLF- controlled areas. Many Vietnamese suffered terrible burns from the napalm, super- naplam and phosphorous bombs that were dropped by US planes.
The Combodian people also suffered terribly after the war spread into their country. It is probable than half a million people died during the civil war in Cambodia between pro- and anti-US factions from 1970 to 1975. The US carpet bombing contributed enormously to this death toll. Estimates of the number of people who died between 1975 and 1979 under the murderous Khmer Rouge regime that came to power in 1975 run up to one million--out of a total population of just over seven million.
Vietnam suffered enormous environmental damage from the war, manliy from US bombing and use of defoliants such as Agent Orange. Bombing destroyed many rice-growing areas in South Vietnam and severely damaged the ecomony of North Vietnam. US government s denied Vietnam any foreign aid after the war.
There have been approximately a million refugees from the conflict. The NLF's strongest supporters had
The Vietnam War which went from 1965 to 1975 involved America and its allies, including Australia, aiming to prevent South Vietnam from an invasion by the communist North Vietnaese. There were many key reasons for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The Americans provided valuable support when they arrived at our aid during the WWII so Australia felt a responsibility to return a favour to the US to maintain healthy foreign relations. Australia also became implicated in the war due to the threat posed by the expansion of communism, known as the “Domino Effect”. On the political front Australia was also very anticommunist and believed to stop the war arriving at our front step we should use the forward defence approach. For these
The military was getting stronger and the people of Vietnam were affected by the casualties. Between both North and South Vietnam 2 million civilians were dead. There was another 1.1 million North Vietnam and Viet Cong people dead (Spector) A way to honor those that have passed was to create a memorial. The people were dying fast therefore the economy was suffering slightly. The farming was beginning to go down and businesses were widely affected by the amount of people injured or dead (Spector) The struggle with both farming and business caused yet another wave of refugees. Due to the amount of bombing there was 1,034,300 hectares of forest destroyed. Since there was so much land destroyed it has a serious impact on the lives of the people of Vietnam (Rohn). Many suffer from diseases caused by the chemicals. These casualties have impacted the world around including all that were involved. It was also a war of a lot of deaths.
Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War started in 1962-75. Some of the reasons for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War were mostly to do with the fear of communism and using the “forward defence” strategy to prevent the domino theory from happening. During this time Australia’s attitude towards the war changed due to the protesting of anti-war groups such as ‘save our sons’, it was believed that it was more of a civil war then a communism war, and because it was a television war.
The Effect of the Vietnam War on the Australian Society The Vietnam War had great political impact and led to deep division within Australian society. The Australian people were forced to take the issues about the Cold War, Vietnam and the arms race seriously because of Australia’s military involvement in Vietnam from 1962 to 1972. As a result, our fear of communism and of Asia increased dramatically. Australia, occupying a large mass of land, yet having a small population had always lived in the belief that they were threatened some way by the foreign powers and this led to the formation of “The White Australia Policy”, which was set up in 1901.
Because of this war, many soldiers died. It was difficult for American men to fight in Vietnam due to the geography. American troops were not used to a jungle habitat and therefore did not know how to go about fighting in it. The Americans were fighting a war on foreign soil and it was very unfamiliar to them. The North Vietnamese used Guerilla Warfare and picked off many American men without them even knowing where the attacks came from. The North Vietnamese also used many booby traps set up in the jungle that were well hidden. If one was activated, it would either kill or severely disable the victim.
Australia’s presence in the ANZUS and SEATO alliances has been very important in our past. The ANZUS agreement which involved Australia, New Zealand and The United States said that they would “*come to one another’s aid in the event of an attack*” (Retro Active 2 p166 paragraph 1). This was formed in 1951. The SEATO alliance (South-East Asia Collective Defense Treaty), which was the one our involvement in Vietnam was based around involved Australia, Britain, United States, France and New Zealand. They all agreed that they would help protect Laos, Cambodia,
In the twentieth century after World War 2 the world was threatened by the takeover of communist that had begun to consume the globe. The Australian government identified that the fear ideology communism will take over the country if no actions were taken to stand against and stop it. The Australian government provided support and participated in several military conflicts during the Cold War to reduce the threat of communist around the world. However, the longest of Australia’s military engagement was the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1975. Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War was mainly centred on its fear of the ‘Domino Theory’, and its relations with the U.S through the Foreign policy which involved the ‘Forward Defence’ policy. The
Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War was a result of a combined fear of communism and the fall of freedom from danger in Australian democracy and society. The growing web of communism saw the fall of many countries closing in on Australia and New Zealand, and it was believed Robert Menzies’ government that they would find communism at Australia’s shores.
Australia is considered among important allies of United States. In the Vietnam war Australia sent a force of 50 000. Being situated in Southern Hemisphere of Southeast Asia, Australia has to face exceptional defense challenges much more than neighboring partner. Historically Australia seems to be willing to accept the major role in military interventions in the surrounding area as can be seen in East Timor.
Anais Moss The Vietnam War was a very devastating war. There were many negative aspects that came along with this tragedy. Figuring out whether or not your against or for the war. The war on vietnam started in 1954 and ended 1975.For the United States of America the Vietnam War lasted for 11years. The United States originally got involved to help stop the spread of communism. Can you believe it saw two presidential terms? During this war the Civil Rights Movement was going on full force. African Americans were volunteering to go fight for a country that wasn’t even willing to give them basic rights. Such as getting de-segregation abolished, non- discrimination, and the right vote. Despite how America felt they were still willing to risk their lives. There were many aspects that came along with this war. A lot of people supported the war out of ignorance. They didn’t know the full intentions and actions that were taking place. Violence was a major downside to the war, many lives were lost during this period. With the Guerilla Warfare tactics that were taking place--the dropping of Napalm on the Vietnamese civilians was devastating because this toxic chemical was being dropped regardless of if there were men, women, children or enemy soldiers being involved. The use of unrestricted force and violence, gave Lyndon B. Johnson authority to do as he pleased when passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The amount of American Soldiers lost to this war is an unimaginable number. Young
It is important to remember that for most of the period before full-scale war erupted in Vietnam, it was Australia who was pushing America into further involvement in the region. SEATO was eventually used by the Americans to justify their presence in Vietnam, but it was the Australians who actually tried to invoke SEATO first. In 1962 when they wanted to stop Indonesian aggression in western New Guinea, they asked America to become involved, but the US had diplomatic commitments with Indonesia as well as Australia and said no. This does not mean that the American alliances were not an important factor in Australia going to war. Australia had made itself essentially dependent on American help in the event of external aggression and that dependence had a price tag of involvement in American foreign policy. The plain and simple fact was that if Australia did not help America now, then America might not come to Australia in her hour of need, if it ever arose. So yes, Australia's relationship with America was an important factor in Australian
It doesn't just stop at physically injuries, many were also affected by mental disorders.. Over 10 thousand people was affected with some kind of mental disorder during vietnam, with one of the most common ones being PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder). PTSD affects the way people experience life after experiencing dramatic events, like war. It affects people differently, and our triggered by different things. Loud noises, flashing lights, are just a couple examples of things that can trigger people that have
The answer can not be addressed simply. The ANZUS and SEATO treaty obligations were just two of the main reasons for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Australians at the time saw communism as a huge threat, and had seen the domino effect it had had on other countries in the South East of Asia, and quickly came to the realisation that it would arrive at our doorstep in no time if we didn’t stop it before it came knocking. Australia also saw an opportunity to help the US, and thought that if we helped them now, then they would help us later, a type of “insurance policy” if you like. And lastly, the South Vietnamese Government (the capitalist part of the country) requested for Australia’s military assistance in its endeavours to fight communism (the USSR) in the northern half of the country. It was because of these main reasons that Robert Menzies decided to take action on behalf of Australia, saying; “…it is our judgment that the decision to commit a battalion in South Vietnam represents the most useful additional contribution which we can make to the defence of the region at this time. The
The chemical weaponry that were used on the Vietnam vegetation had an adverse effect on the people in a way that even after three generations, the effects are still evident on the children. Many of them are born with malformations and severe defects in the nervous structure and immune system. The chemical also affected the American soldiers and veterans as many of them have health issues related to these weapons. Although the American government thought that they were only punishing the North Vietnamese, American veterans ended up victims of chronic and unhealthy conditions.
As a great family of nations, involved in a struggle greater than us, Australia’s assistance for South Vietnam commenced in early 1960’s to enforce the policies of other prosperous nations to limit the spread of communism in Asia (RSL NSW, 2014). From the time of the arrival of the first forces in 1962 approximately 60,000 fellow Australians, including ground troops and airforce and naval force work force, served in Vietnam (NFSA, 2017). To you we are thankful.