Australia In The Vietnam War :: essays research papers

The only time Australia has aim under direct attack from another country, was when Japan bombed Darwin and sunk a number of ships in Sydney, during universe of discourse War 2. The question then has to be asked, why Australia has been involved in so many run afouls. A number of recent conflicts in this century come to mind, they include, The Boer War, World War One, World War Two and The Vietnam War. By far the conflict that drew the most outrage from Australian citizens was the Vietnam War. Australia has been drawn into these conflicts through a number of treaties and alliances made with other countries. Often it is not the conflicts that behave drawn most outrage from Australian citizens, rather the insistence of other countries, for Australia to accept banging numbers of post-war refugees.The introduction of conscription into Australia during the Vietnam War, caused much outrage in the Australian public. Vietnam was the initial war ever to be properly televised, the public saw for the first time the true brutality of war. The public started to question Australia&8217s involvement in the war. Moratoriums were held around Australia in protest against conscription and Australia&8217s involvement in the war. Much of the protesting was d single by students and the younger generations, there was still support for the war effort. This was reflected in the November 1966 elections, when there was a landslide victory for the Liberals. Conscription did have an effect on the Liberal governments popularity, a few months after a complete troop withdrawal in 1972 from Vietnam, the Whitlam Labour government replaced the McMahon Liberal government. Historically, superstar of the influencing factors of the Liberal&8217s election loss was the Governments choice to get involved in a war that had little to do with Australia.Australia&8217s involvement in Vietnam came about due to the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation(SEATO). Australia was a country involved in SEATO. A fter Americas request, South Vietnam requested Australia&8217s help in the Vietnam Conflict. Australia&8217s involvement in this organisation was an important one, if South-East Asia fell to communism, then it&8217s northern shores would be vulnerable. Having said this, Australia&8217s involvement in this conflict was not purely for this reason. Political ambition was a major contributing factor in Australia&8217s involvement. After all, it was a chance to help one of the most powerful countries in the world out, and this would strengthen Australia&8217s political alliances with America.