The Vietnam War was a civil war, a war between the beliefs of the capitalism and communism the longest major conflict in which Australians have been involved in, it had lasted for ten years, from 1962 to 1972. Australia was involved in the Vietnam War for numerous reasons, the key motives were from the fear of communism, the forward defense policy and Australia’s commitment of troops to the United States and the two alliance agreements.
The main reason that made Australia involved in the Vietnam War was the fear of communism. Australian’s were feared because of the attack of North Korean communists into democratic South Korea in the 1950s was seen as a risk to democracy. Therefore, by Australians sending troops to Vietnam was a move to support democracy. . Many Australians believed that if South Vietnam became a communist country, then other countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia would also fall to the communists. Some Australians saw what was happening in Vietnam as a threat to Australia’s security. This was called the “domino effect.” Australians feared the “domino effect”, so the decision to send troops to fight in Vietnam was because if South Vietnam was taken over, it would be a direct military attack on Australia.
The forward defense policy was a strategic motive by Prime Minister Robert Menzies for Australia’s involvement. This was a policy against the “domino theory”. The “domino theory”, was if on nation fell under communist domination, its neighbor’s would fall like a line of dominoes. Therefore, if South Vietnam was taken