08 Australia's Military Involvement in the Vietnam War Part 1
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This article is from the Vietnam FAQ, by Brian Ross, John R. Tegtmeier, Edwin E. Moise, Frank Vaughan, John Tegtmeier with numerous contributions by others.
08 Australia's Military Involvement in the Vietnam War Part 1
This posting is the first of two intended to provide an overview
of Australian military operations in Vietnam, commencing from the
deployment of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam in 1962 until
1969, when Australian forces began withdrawing, consistent with the
Nixon Doctrine of phased withdrawal from the mainland of Asia and the
policy of Vietnamization.
While the second will deal primarily with the political decisions
to become involved in the Vietnam war, suffice to say for the moment,
that the Australian commitment to Vietnam was largely dictated by
political concerns and was therefore limited by the same concerns. The
predominant theory of defence during the sixties was the containment
of communism and "Forward Defence". Both of these policies relied
heavily on the presence of America in Southeast Asia combating the
perceived Chinese threat. In Vietnam, this translated into the policy
of supporting American military involvement and encouraging the
continuation of this involvement until such time as China was
sufficiently dissuaded from any further adventurism or Australia could
more capably defend itself.
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