Vietnam War - Paper Essay Example for Free

Vietnam fightfare Paper Es hypothesizeThe Vietnam war was a conflict between the communist, North Vietnam and sulphur Vietnam. In the wake of the Second World War western fears of a communist expansion throughout Asia were running high. The United States was concerned that if North Vietnam make head mien and romped Vietnam into a communist state, neighboring countries were also exchangeablely to follow. As an anyy of the United States and Australias involve ment in South-East Asia Treaty Organization and the Australia New Zealand United States Security Treaty and the mental picture in forward defence Australia was an enthusiastic endureer of the American policy in Vietnam. The majority of Australians substitute the countrys involvement in the Vietnam War in its early years mainly because of the threat of collectivism. Australia felt that if communism dominated South Vietnam it would be an even bigger risk to Australia because of the domino effect. If Vietnam fell in to communism so will its neighboring countries including Australia. Australia did not want to fall into communism and agreeing to the request for help by South Vietnam, Australia supported the war and troops were immediately send to Vietnam. The decision to send the army to Vietman was also do by the Older Australians which were part of the pigeonholing called the Returned Servicemens League. These batch believed in the idea of the Anzac Spirit and expected the jr. generation to do their bit as they had during World War II.The Australian People and Liberal company rallied behind the attractership of Menzies. Therefore, the Liberal Party was also in agreement with Australias involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1966, Australia warmly welcomed the visit of the American president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. The new prime minister of Australia enthusiastically declared that when it came to Vietnam, Australia was all the way with LBJ, which meant that Australia was willing to support the U S in supporting the Vietnam War. The Democratic Labor Party at that period who split from the Labor Party had a genuinely large Catholic membership and was also very anti-communist. It was also determined to oppose any ALP policies so it automatically supported the war. After the first promulgation of displace troops there was a general support from the news outlets for the g everywherenances policy. This wasnt the kind of support sh avow in Australias involvement in previous wars.There was little mention of words like heroic and more(prenominal) mention of words like gravedecision. Many of the papers just said Australia had no alternative, given its geographical position and its treaty commitments. The support was there, but it was muted and it tended to skepticism the political situation in South Vietnam. Australian Catholics had been encouraged to construe South Vietnam as not only the last democracy in South East Asia, but as a Catholic democracy. There was widespread support for the government of the Republic of Vietnam, even subsequently the assassination of the Catholic leader Ngo Dinh Diem. At the same time as the Australian government made the resolution that it was sending troops, the Pope called for negotiations to take place in Vietnam for a peaceful resolution. Many Australian Catholics did not see the Popes annunciation as any reason not to support the commitment of troops to South Vietnam and so they were in support.There was even a large section of the community who seemed to take no vex in what was going on in South East Asia. Many heap believed Vietnam to be likewise far away for the average person to care about. They were quite unconcerned about the war and intemperately believed it should be left up to the government and the army to sort out. Sending troops off to fleck in wars was seen by many ordinary Australians as not only the right thing to do but as a good way of increasing Australias prestige in the world. This caus ed a striation of people to automatically support the government without really questioning if it was a good idea or not. On the contrary, there were many people and organisations that were against this war. Anti-war rejects had been taking place in Australia since 1962 when the first military advisors had been sent in to Vietnam. Since then, protests had taken place for various reasons at various times, but it was not until the P.M.s announcement in April 1965 to provide an infantry battalion for service in Vietnam for further military assistance when protests really began to take shape.This opposition was a way out of extensive media coverage, a unequal system of rough drawing and maturement political consciousness. A lot of violent and gruesome footage of the war was broadcasted right into peoples homes every evening. Many protests were the result of this. Conscription introduced in November 1964 had forced unseasoned men to fight away from their home country. Many people motto this as unfair and wrong. This too caused a lot of controversy and many arguments were made against the government forintroducing this. The ALP was against the commitment of troops to Vietnam. The Labor leader Arthur Calwell had the unenviable job of responding to the government in parliament. Labor saw the war as essentially a civil one in which Australia should not get involved. Calwell did say that they would back the Australian troops and not deny them the support they would need. Many of the trade unions called the government support of Americas foreign policy in Vietnam diggers for dollars.They believed the Australian government was sacrificing the lives of Australian troops to ensure that America would advertise the economy by spending more money in Australia. In response to this belief and the announcement of more troops being sent to Vietnam, unions wanted to enforce work stoppages in protest. The Australian Council of flip Unions followed the Labor Party policy of not supporting the war but not denying the soldiers support. In afterward years, no other group would be more associated with anti-war activities, but reaction in the universities immediately after the announcement. Educated university students didnt see the point in continuing a futile war. They thought that young men being forced to go to war was unnecessary, it disturbed their lives and the potential to live to their dreams. They also thought that the enormous amount of money used on the war should be spent on helping their own count. The fact that it was an overseas war and that it had nothing to do with us was another reason for opposition.The reason why they were opposing the war is because they considered that Australia is following USA blindly, it is not our war and they also didnt like the idea of young men being forced into war and innocent woman, elders and children being killed due to the war. There was also a large and angry anti-war movement growing. There were publ ic draft-card burnings, student sit ins and large noisy group demonstrations when the American President, Johnson visited Australia. By the late 1960s a some(prenominal) stronger and more violent form of protest appeared. Protesters raided officers and campaigns were launched to persuade young men not to register for conscription. The Labor Party was against the conscription method, calling it unfair, and they had much support from the Australian public. We should stop following US policy blindly The women of SOS put on their hats and gloves and carried their grungy and white banners high to the army barracks, to court, to Parliament House, to the City Square, and even, in 1969, to Vietnam itself.Most of the SOS members wereordinary middle-class and working class women, wives and mothers, who had no connections to the radical youth counter-culture, but they educated themselves and others on the situation in Vietnam and on the laws associated with conscription and conscientious o bjection. In the process, their politics became increasingly radical. Later, Following the success of the November 1969 Moratorium in the United States, a serial publication of Australians groups opposed to the war in Vietnam decided to band together to put on a Moratorium in Australia. The demonstration in Melbourne, led by Member of Parliament Jim Cairns, had over 100,000 people taking to the streets in Melbourne alone. Across Australia, it was estimated that 200,000 people were involved. The second Vietnam Moratorium in September 1970 was smaller after more violence occurred. 50 000 people participated and there were violent incidents between police.Two hundred people were arrested in Sydney. The third moratorium in June 1971 were of nearly 100 000 people. By this time public opinion was beginning to turn assertively against conscription and Australians involvement in the war. The intensity of the conflict in Australia over our involvement in Vietnam, and the issue of conscriptio n, contributed to the election of a Labor government in December 1972. xxiii years of conservative Liberal government had ended. The new Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, immediately abolished National Service and recalled the Australian army. As we see due to the fear of communism in Australia most Australians were train to send troops to fight in Vietnam. However, as the war progressed and the society were starting to see all the pictures on TV and hearing so much soldiers are dying and sent overseas and that this war cant be won, Australians started to do something about this. They went out on streets to protest, fight, and hold moratoriums and as a result of these conflicts the troops were called back after 10 years and 60,000 soldiers fighting in the longest war Australia had been part of.