Essay On Australia's Involvement In The Vietnam War
Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War
“The decision to send an Australian infantry battalion to Vietnam is a grave one; these are inescapable obligations which fall on us because of our position, treaties and friendship. There was no alternative but to respond as we have.”
- Robert Menzies
The Vietnam War was the longest major conflict in which Australia has been involved in. It lasted ten years 1962-1972 and involved some 60,000 personnel. The Vietnam War ultimately started and stemmed from the consequences of the cold war, and was fuelled by the simple idea and belief of America that communism was threatening to spread across South East Asia. The War in Vietnam was fought between the North, idealistic communists supported by China, Russia and its communist allies and the government of the South supported by America and anti communist countries. The North and the South supported by its countries both fought and upheld the fight in Vietnam.
As hostilities and conflict began …show more content…
As the outbreak of war was occurring in Vietnam so was the threat of communism, bringing forward the Domino Theory. Australia realised that in order to contain the war In Vietnam and the threat of communism there was no other alternative than to send military troops to stop communist aggression into the countries of Southeast Asia. This strategy was developed from the Forward Defence Policy and supported by a firm belief in the domino theory. The idea of this policy was that by helping their Allies to fight and contain the war overseas, theoretically the war would never reach Australia’s shores. Therefore if Australia did not send troops to fight and aid its allies in order to contain the war in Vietnam, it would have ultimately resulted with the war being brought onto Australian soil, along with the threat of
“The decision to send an Australian infantry battalion to Vietnam is a grave one; these are inescapable obligations which fall on us because of our position, treaties and friendship. There was no alternative but to respond as we have.”
- Robert Menzies
The Vietnam War was the longest major conflict in which Australia has been involved in. It lasted ten years 1962-1972 and involved some 60,000 personnel. The Vietnam War ultimately started and stemmed from the consequences of the cold war, and was fuelled by the simple idea and belief of America that communism was threatening to spread across South East Asia. The War in Vietnam was fought between the North, idealistic communists supported by China, Russia and its communist allies and the government of the South supported by America and anti communist countries. The North and the South supported by its countries both fought and upheld the fight in Vietnam.
As hostilities and conflict began …show more content…
As the outbreak of war was occurring in Vietnam so was the threat of communism, bringing forward the Domino Theory. Australia realised that in order to contain the war In Vietnam and the threat of communism there was no other alternative than to send military troops to stop communist aggression into the countries of Southeast Asia. This strategy was developed from the Forward Defence Policy and supported by a firm belief in the domino theory. The idea of this policy was that by helping their Allies to fight and contain the war overseas, theoretically the war would never reach Australia’s shores. Therefore if Australia did not send troops to fight and aid its allies in order to contain the war in Vietnam, it would have ultimately resulted with the war being brought onto Australian soil, along with the threat of