1. HIST3300 The World Since 1945
Answers:
Why was Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War controversial?
The Australian continent today has been known to be a bearer of rich history, diversity and
extreme progression in the era of technological development. However, on its way to
reaching this aspect, it has undergone several political journeys and all of it is not reflected
with glory to this day. One such event in Australian history has been stated to its
involvement in the Vietnam War. Several literatures and historians state that the Australian
involvement in the said war was uncalled for. Therefore, in due course of this essay, we will
learn and analyze the aspects that made the involvement of Australia in Vietnam war
controversial to this date.
The French colonisation of Indochina in the 19th century was a major factor in stoking
tensions that led to the Vietnam War (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). As part of their
invasion of Southeast Asia and war against the West, the Japanese conquered Vietnam in
1940. After World War II, France was eager to take back control of its former territories.
With Bao Dai's appointment as head of state, France formally created Vietnam as a
sovereign nation. After the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, Ho Chi Minh of the
Communist Party of Vietnam issued a declaration of independence for Vietnam in
September of that year.
By rejecting the proclamation, France set off an eight-year conflict that culminated in defeat
at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The communist North Vietnam was split in two by the Geneva
Accords: the communist North was headed by Ho Chi Minh, while the South was governed
by Ngo Dinh Diem, who ousted Bao Dai and announced October 1955 as the year of
Vietnam's independence. National elections were called for in 1956 as part of the Geneva
Accords' objective of uniting a fractured country. Claiming that the people of the North were
unable to vote freely, Diem refused to participate in the election if the United States backed
him. North and South Vietnam's relations worsened until the North, in 1960, created the
National Front for South Vietnam's Liberation, vowing to overthrow Diem and bring the two
nations back together under communist rule.
Its guerrilla operation, which it dubbed "the Vietnamese Communists" (Viet Cong), spread
2. across the country's southern provinces in an attempt to instigate a nationwide revolt.
Afraid of communism spreading throughout Southeast Asia, the United States increased its
previously limited support for the South Vietnamese Army, which was unable to resist the
rebels' methods.By the end of 1962, the United States had increased its previously limited
support for the South Vietnamese Army 11,000 American military advisors had been sent to
the nation. As a result of this escalation, US force numbers would ultimately rise to more
than 500,000.
Furthermore, many of the problems that plagued South Vietnam in the early 1960s were
resolved after the government faced internal dissatisfaction losing control of rural regions
outside of major cities and towns to a growing communist insurgency. The leadership of
South Vietnam sought assistance from the United States and Australia, a regional ally, and
both provided it. Military and humanitarian aid were offered by both countries in response.
Australia's contribution was small compared to America's, but it was enough to show
Australia's commitment to the United States, its most important ally. America wanted to
avoid seeming as though they were supplanting French colonialism, and other nations in the
area, like Australia, helped to do this by suggesting that they were taking a more global
approach.
At the outset, Australia sent a team of 30 military advisors to South Vietnam under the
direction of Colonel F.P. "Ted" Serong, who was in charge of the whole nation. An important
part of Australia's military presence in the South Vietnamese countryside was the
Australian Army Training Team (AATTV). Australians considered them to embody the
"Forward Defense" philosophy, which advocated tackling dangers at their source rather
than waiting to face an adversary on their territory.
The Vietnam War elicited minimal opposition among Australians at the outset. While
popular opinion at the time supported a government strategy in Vietnam, the ALP suffered
its greatest electoral setback in decades when its leader Arthur Calwell decided that
the 1966 federal election would primarily feature the topic of Vietnam. From 1967 forward,
anti-war sentiment grew rapidly, yet the majority of citizens remained opposed to the
conflict. Calwell had attacked South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyn Cao K as "ruthless
tyrant" before to his 1967 visit, indicating a change in the ALP's views toward communism.
Ky was the leader of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force during the time. Ky's journey was a
spectacular success the chaos that surrounded the visit's planning. He managed the media
skillfully, despite the public and press's dissatisfaction.
Conscription was introduced by the government in response to a deteriorating regional
strategic outlook during the war, and it was widely opposed. Some groups resisted
conscription by either destroying letters alerting individuals of their induction, which was
punishable by a financial penalty, or urging young men to refuse to join the military, which
was punishable by imprisonment. Between 1967 and 1970, a succession of high-profile
imprisonment of resistance movements, as well as reports of crimes against Vietnamese
3. civilians, heightened public concern over the war's death toll, resulting in a significant surge
in domestic opposition to the war. Resistance to government policies became increasingly
apparent in public discourse over Vietnam following Labor lost another federal election in
1969, this time by a considerably smaller majority. Moratorium marches were organised in
key Australian cities on May 8, 1970, to coincide with the US marches. The Melbourne
march, which was organised by future deputy prime minister Jim Cairns, drew an estimated
100,000 people. It was anticipated that 200,000 people from all throughout Australia
participated.
Nonetheless, polls at the time found that now the moratorium fell short of its objectives and
had little influence on public opinion, with much more than half of respondents favouring
national service and a smaller number opposing Australia's withdrawal from the war. The
number of those who declined to be recruited was small. By 1970, it was projected that
99.8% of those who had gotten call-up papers had accepted them.
There was also a lot of dispute over how people felt about veterans at the time. All
Australian units arriving from Vietnam participated in very well attended parades in
Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Townsville, even at the peak of the country's involvement
in Vietnam in the early 1970s. Regardless, as anti-war feeling grew, service in Vietnam
started to be seen negatively by certain Australians, and anti-war sentiment generated
negative attitudes toward veterans in some areas. After the war, some Vietnam veterans
faced social marginalisation and difficulties reintegrating into society. Nonetheless, because
each soldier's Vietnam War tour of duty was limited to one year, the number of personnel
afflicted from post traumatic stress was probably lower than it would otherwise be
otherwise.
Despite widespread opposition to Australia's involvement in the conflict, the government
put the US alliance first. It was unavoidable for Prime Minister Robert Menzies to send
Australian troops into the conflict in 1965, but it was saddening that the devotion was
unconditional, with no escape strategy in place. As a result, Prime Minister John Gorton,
who served from 1968 to 1971, continued to struggle to get Australia out of a conflict that
had turned into a major burden and lacked a convincing regional context.
When faced with the Vietnam issue in 1964–65, there is evidence that Menzies believed he
was just duplicating the same strategy that had worked so successfully during his 15 years
as Prime Minister. However, it was subsequently shown that he was unaware of certain
significant distinctions. To proceed with, Australians at all thresholds, business, the media,
and the general public—knew far less about mainland Southeast Asia, particularly the
former French colonies of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, than they did about maritime
Southeast Asia, notably the former British and Dutch territories of Indonesia, Malaysia, and
Singapore. Australian politicians, bureaucrats, diplomats, and military commanders had less
chance to conduct independent political and military assessments or conduct independent
diplomacy in the islands and peninsulas between Sumatra and New Guinea than in and
4. around Vietnam. As a result, Australia lacked trust in and control over the military and
political policies of its important partner.
Menzies' choice also had a problem in that he underestimated the likelihood of American
loss or humiliation. To understand Menzies' views on the importance of keeping the United
States in the war, it helps to understand his life anecdotes as a young military officer in
1917 and as a young prime minister in 1939–41. Rather than imperial conquest, they saw
isolationism as the threat. Menzies and his collaborators overestimated Americans'
potential to perform in comparison to the French by combining these factors and failure to
acknowledge how little they knew about the subject.
Thus, in summation, the war accounted for numerous casualties for the United States as
well as its allies, including Australia. The post-war losses and sacrifices of the numerous
soldiers as well as the capital flown into it proved nothing short of worthless, and hence, the
decision of Australia to be a willing participant in the war is termed as controversial.
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