The Vietnam War (3 Aug 1965 Jahr – 2 Dez 1972 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

Involved in this foreign conflict, Australia had 7,672 personnels fighting during the Vietnam War. The 1965 Menzies Government made the decision to upgrade its military commitment to South Vietnam's security in April that year. By the time the last Australian personnel were withdrawn in 1972, the Vietnam War had become Australia's longest war, and was only recently surpassed by Australia's long term commitment of combat forces to the War in Afghanistan. The policy of conscription was introduced during the war. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. As part of the war build-up, the US government requested support from friendly countries in the region, including Australia. As a result of the war, 521 personnels died and over 3,000 were wounded.

By 1960, anti-war protests were gathering momentum in Australia. Opposition to conscription mounted, as more people came to believe the war could not be won. A "Don't register" campaign to dissuade young men from registering for conscription gained increasing support and some of the protests grew violent. As the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the withdrawal of the US from South-East Asia forced Australia to adopt a more independent foreign policy, moving away from forward defence and reliance on powerful allies to a greater emphasis on the defence of continental Australia and military self-reliance. This later had important implications for the military's force structure in the 1980s and 1990s. The experience in Vietnam also caused an intolerance for casualties which resulted in successive Australian governments becoming more cautious towards the deployment of military forces overseas. The hippie movement in Australia emerged partially due to the war.

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