Australians response to the Cold War
Cold War is the term used to describe the tensions from about 1945 between the USSR and Eastern Europe on the one hand and the USA and Western Europe on the other. Cold War can be seen in the disagreements between the USSR and the Western allies during World War 2, especially over the future structure of Eastern Europe. As Europe was divided into East and West, the USSR creates communism in Eastern Europe, whilst the West remains Capitalist. Australia felt that the communism could be a threat and so Prime Minister Menzies sought a major US presence and manoeuvred Australia into a position of being invited to send military help during the Vietnam War.At the end of World War 2, Australia and other Western countries were concerned, as communism swept across the world. The Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe and in 1949 China became communist. In 1950 communist North Korea attacked the non communist country of South Korea. The Cold War developed between the East a
The Royal Commission found that there was no Soviet Spy Ring in Australia and Menzies won the election. In the years that followed, Menzies called for a Royal Commission to investigate alleged Soviet spying in Australia, after being warned by a defector named Vladimir Petrov. The Menzies government feared the spread of communism and sought assistance from the USA for long term security. In 1951 Menzies held a referendum to legalise the banning of the Communist Party. In 1954, Vietnam was split into communist North and non-communist South Vietnam. He introduced a law to ban the Communist Party, however this law was challenged and dismissed in the high court. During the early years of the war, Australian's were in full support of the government's policy to assist Vietnam, though there were concerns about forcing conscription. Many protests occurred throughout the country. The USA also decided to withdraw their assistance, which assisted in Australia's decision. Australia finally realised that it was not their battle and removed the troops, but not before many were lost. Menzies manoeuvred Australia into being invited to send military assistance to help the South Vietnamese government as a way of insuring Australia's safety. Soviet officials tried to force Petrov back to the Soviet Union, but he was allowed to remain in Australia and given political asylum. The Australian Prime minister Robert Menzies believed that communism was a threat to Australia as several union leaders were communists and there had been a series of serious strikes in the late 1940's. With the election of the Whitlam Government, the troops were gradually returned home. The Labour Party tried to use the Petrov affair to gain votes in the 1954 election.
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