Australia's Response to the Threat of Communism

Australia entered the war in 1939 and it became at their doorstep on the 19th February 1942, Nazi Germany and Japan were major enemies to Australia during the war. Australia’s foreign policy and changing alliance during 1942 impacted our national identity because Australia developed a new relationship with America, while it weakened the strong connection with Britain, which demonstrates that Australia was starting to become its own independent country. At the beginning of war, Australia had a strong relationship and alliance with Britain, making Britain their leaders when entering the war. Secondly, as the war progressed Australia began to look to America as an opportunity for protection from the Japanese, while Britain was fighting their own

Australia’s involvement in WW2 was significant because of their alliances with Great Britain and the USA. Australia was very close to Britain mainly because they founded Australia and Australia considered them their ‘mother country’. Young men also thought that war was a very brave and noble thing to do, it also gave them the opportunities to meet new people and protect those that they loved back at home. Threats from overseas were a huge reason

The fear of communism eventually overtaking Australia was initially the main reason for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Sir Robert Menzies was elected Prime Minister of Australia in 1949 and maintained leadership for sixteen years. Menzies wanted to achieve a better lifestyle for all Australians and was bitterly opposed to communism. (In comments mr Leechman asked for examples and to work on the paragraph)

The fear of communism in Australia spread concern throughout governments and citizens, thus undermining Australia’s plans for a secure future, from 1945 to the 1950’s. Following the world war epidemics, Australia, along with the entirety of the world, longed for security and peace within and between countries. There was a fundamental concern of this peripheral safety being taken away. Even though ‘post war’ Australia promoted the economic and political stability, it was certainly a time of alarm and tension. This ultimate fear of communism was intertwined with politics. Throughout this essay, it will asses three main impacts of the threat of communism on Australian domestic politics. These impacts will be: The Menzies propaganda against communism, the use of the Australian Communist Party Dissolution Bill, and finally the Petrov affair.

The Darwin bombings were carried out so that naval ties would be cut between Australia and the US. The Japanese had intentions to conquer land in South East Asia and the Pacific in order to

In the twentieth century after World War 2 the world was threatened by the takeover of communist that had begun to consume the globe. The Australian government identified that the fear ideology communism will take over the country if no actions were taken to stand against and stop it. The Australian government provided support and participated in several military conflicts during the Cold War to reduce the threat of communist around the world. However, the longest of Australia’s military engagement was the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1975. Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War was mainly centred on its fear of the ‘Domino Theory’, and its relations with the U.S through the Foreign policy which involved the ‘Forward Defence’ policy. The

The US-Australian alliance requires some explanation. At its basis, it pertains to the ANZUS treaty signed between Australia, New Zealand, and the

Australia’s presence in the ANZUS and SEATO alliances has been very important in our past. The ANZUS agreement which involved Australia, New Zealand and The United States said that they would “*come to one another’s aid in the event of an attack*” (Retro Active 2 p166 paragraph 1). This was formed in 1951. The SEATO alliance (South-East Asia Collective Defense Treaty), which was the one our involvement in Vietnam was based around involved Australia, Britain, United States, France and New Zealand. They all agreed that they would help protect Laos, Cambodia,

Politically the great depression hit Australia hard, as many Australians lost confidence in their government representatives. A number of radical or extremist organizations gather strength and popularity as a result of the large scale public dissatisfaction. In Australia the developing of the new capital Canberra was put to a stop leaving a population of 7,000 in limbo, workers were laid off and the federal capital commission was abolished. The Sydney harbor bridge was a great way of bringing employment back into Australia during the depression. At the time of the war and after the great depression it was Australian best interest to have an alliance with Great Britain. Australia needed to form an alliance with Great Britain during World War II, because if the war ended up near or in Australia, we would need the help from Great Britain and their allies. Having Great Britain as its ally at that time was the right thing to do as it protected its colonies from the imperil japan and other foreign invaders. During the period of 1942 Australia was extremely worried as the fall of Singapore in February 1942 and had the threat of a possibility of a Japanese

Australians were anti-communist during the Vietnam War; due to a level of hype that the society, the media, and the government were exposed to. The “domino effect” was a popular analogy during the Vietnam War, which represented the spread from communist Russia’s web of power was growing into South East Asia and the halt of communism in Vietnam would signify the half of communism’s

In 1945, after World War II had finished, Australia finally felt at peace – that was until Communism began to have an effect on the entire world. Australia had a lot to fear, with the threat likely to infiltrate the country both domestically (an established Communist Party) and internationally (a geographical location close to countries that had already fallen victim to communism, such as China and Korea). Australia responded to both of these threats in a way that caused a lot of political controversy and has created bonds with other parts of the world that are still activated today.

In the period following WWII there was a growing fear within Australia of communism. The common belief was that communism would spread from the USSR to Asian countries and eventually reach Australia. This theory is known today as the domino theory.

At a similar time, Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, invoked the IV Article of the ANZUS treaty, as he was currently in Washington D.C at the time of the assault. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1368 in fact also condemned the attacks, and displayed the readiness to take action against the assault on the United States.

Australia 's US alliance is unquestionably its single most important security relationship. The security relationship between Australia and the U.S. was sealed with the introduction of the Australia New Zealand United States treaty (ANZUS) which was signed in 1951 (Taylor, 2016). The ANZUS treaty was instigated by the three nations to protect the security of the Pacific. Although New Zealand no longer holds security ties with U.S., the treaty is still in place and was the first of many formal alliances between Australia and the U.S. (Taylor, 2016).

Being part of the commonwealth, New Zealand has traditionally been close trading partners with the United Kingdom, however with Britain entering the EU in 1973, New Zealand was forced to find other trading partners to sustain the country’s economy. The formation of the Australian, New Zealand and United States security treaty 1951 (ANZUS) had played a significant role in the Nuclear ships disputes throughout the 1980’s. The visitation of US nuclear powered and armed war ships had a significant