The Vietnam War has been one of the most well known conflicts in the Cold War era as it still has significant impacts on today’s international relations and diplomacy between Australia and other countries. Tracing its events back into history, the origin of the Vietnam War was merely a national conflict of the Northern and Southern parts of Vietnam. The Vietnam War resulted in the involvement of more than 60,000 Australian personnel, 521 of them killed and more than 3000 wounded. Among many aspects of the Vietnam War, one of the things that fascinate a lot of modern Australian historians is how Australia became involved in the Vietnam War.
There are many factors for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, but the main reasons include the fear of communism, which gave rise to two other important factors: Australia fulfilling the …show more content…
The rebellion of the communist party of Malaya in 1948, the Soviet Union atomic bomb test in 1949, the victory of the communist party in the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War in 1950. These conflicts and events were marked as communist aggression. This belief was supported by the domino theory as it speculates that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then its surrounding countries would also follow this phenomenon in a domino effect. Taking this theory into account, there was a widespread fear of communism among many Australians, as they feared that Australia would ultimately succumb to communism due to their geographical proximity to the communised countries.
After Australia’s experience with the Japanese in World War Two, the fear of aggression from Asian countries was exacerbated by communism. In order to enhance its national security, Australia signed the ANZUS treaty with New Zealand and the United States. This treaty was signed in September 1951 and came into effect the following
There are many factors for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, but the main reasons include the fear of communism, which gave rise to two other important factors: Australia fulfilling the …show more content…
The rebellion of the communist party of Malaya in 1948, the Soviet Union atomic bomb test in 1949, the victory of the communist party in the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War in 1950. These conflicts and events were marked as communist aggression. This belief was supported by the domino theory as it speculates that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then its surrounding countries would also follow this phenomenon in a domino effect. Taking this theory into account, there was a widespread fear of communism among many Australians, as they feared that Australia would ultimately succumb to communism due to their geographical proximity to the communised countries.
After Australia’s experience with the Japanese in World War Two, the fear of aggression from Asian countries was exacerbated by communism. In order to enhance its national security, Australia signed the ANZUS treaty with New Zealand and the United States. This treaty was signed in September 1951 and came into effect the following