Impact of the Vietnam War on Australia Essay

The controversial Vietnam state of contend had a huge impact on Australian society in the 1960s/1970s. It affected every last(predicate) aspects of society, such as the social, economic and political issues. Vietnam was kn deliver as a TV War. A lot of wild and gruesome footage of the war was broadcasted beneficial into battalions homes. People felt the need to report their own opinions and a very biased view of the war, they were not concerned with the thoughts of the Vietnamese people and their say in what was going on.The Australian govern workforcet was criticized for being selective in what it showed to the public. They altered it to suit their own opinions. One fabrication that it pushed was the thought that the war was helping the Vietnamese people, and also that the government was unflinching to disprove that it was blindly supporting and follo clearg the USA into an unnecessary war. Because of all these many viewpoints and all the news coverage, society itself see med to be split in who to believe and what was right. Many protests were the result of this.Conscription had forced young men to fight away from their home country. Many people saw this as unfair and wrong. This too caused a lot of controversy and many arguments were make against the government for introducing this.This public opinion also sparked the interest of the political parties. The stab and Liberal parties had both oppo seate opinions of the war, and used Vietnam as more kindred a tool of election propaganda. The Labor party spoke push through against the immorality of Vietnam and people were supporting then claiming that it was unjust and cruel. The party nonionized the first Moratorium, where more than 120,000 people took part and expressed their opinions. The protesters had hoped that Labor would win the 1966 elections and would then withdraw the soldiers. When the Labor party was defeated, the protest movement had died overpower for a while.After the war, thousands of Vietnamese boat people have go in to Australia. This was because the people had dissatisfaction with the Communistgovernment and that Australia was within reach by boat.How and wherefore Support for the War changed over time. At the beginning of the war, surveys found that the Australian public at first support the idea of a diminutive military team based in Vietnam training Vietnamese soldiers. In 1965 when 800 combat soldiers were sent to Vietnam, again the public still generally back up it.Though in 1967 on that point was a change, most Australians still supported the idea of helping the southwesterly Vietnamese government but they were against move any more Australian soldiers. But still, more were sent.Between 1967 and 1969 there was a definite change and eventually most Australians were in privilege of a complete withdrawal of soldiers from Vietnam. This opinion continued throughout the war and many protests were the result of it.There was a great Vietnam Debate on the issue and many valid points.For Vietnam.They believed in the eye mask Theory and saw it as a genuine threat.They acknowledged USAs office staff as a protector to the world against Communist and that they had to be supported.South Vietnamese people had to be supported.Against VietnamThat the war was really a urbane war and was none of our business.Vietnamese problems were only natural considering that the country had been tardily divided.If the Communists of North Vietnam had gained control, we could just contain the whole of Vietnam, therefore stopping the Domino Theory.Western interference was bound to fail, the French did.The Catholic Church incessantly supported the war. During the WW1 the church had potently opposed it, but dealing with Vietnam they were strongly in favour of Australian involvement and tipple in coordinate to fight a godless communism.There were two primary(prenominal) protest separates those who believed that Australia should not be involved, and those who believed that only conscription was wrong. Most of the protests at the time were quiet and calm. A number of universities organized teach ins where people present and argued for both for and against the involvement in war.There were more violent and active protests after witnessing the ones in the USA. A dont file for conscription campaign had been launched aimed at the young men. In late 1966 and anti-Vietnam group stopped Sydneys rush hour traffic by seated on the main roads. This protest movement though was nothing compared to the ones in America, and the ones here had almost no effect on the governments choice.The war caused many social outbursts and many draft resisters, objectors and protestors had been fined and jailed, and the soldiers met a remote and unwelcome on their return home.The Conscription Issue.In none of Australias previous wars had any man been conscripted to fight outside of Australian territory. The Vietnam War was different, at one stage in 1968 nearly half of Australias men in Vietnam were conscripts.The Menzies government introduced conscription in November 1964. When it wasfirst announce it only involved military training that required no foreign service, which wasnt the truth. The government got strong hints that service would be needed in Vietnam, so really conscription was a way of preparing for overseas combat. Who went was obdurate by a lottery. This was done by every date in the year written down and days were drawn at random. If a mans birthday was drawn, he then was conscripted.Overall the protests against conscription lasted longer than the protests against the war itself. Though when at first the government announced it, the publics reaction was quite little. But there were later developed protests closely individual students being called up to war. There were public draft-card burnings, student sit ins and large noisy group demonstrations when the American President, Johnson visited Australia.By the late 1960s a much stronger and more violent form of protest appeared. Protesters raided officers and campaigns were launched to mold 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.