Vietnam War

From 1962 to 1975

The Vietnam war was a which involved the unification of Vietnam after Vietnam split into North and south Vietnam. South Vietnam was supported by the US and had its own government, and so did North Vietnam, but North Vietnam wanted to unify the country again and run under a communist government. South Vietnam didn’t want this, and the state had to fight to keep its territory, along with its main ally, the United States. The tension between the two states escalated and turned into a war, today known as ‘The Vietnam War.’ Australia became involved on the 3rd of August 1962, 5 months after the war started along with other countries such as New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia, and others, to aid South Vietnam in fighting. Troops were collected from Australia and soldiers were to serve for 1 year in Vietnam and could be discharged from the battlefield. Australia along with the 9 other countries that aided South Vietnam, served for 13 years, but then in early 1975, the communist in North Vietnam launched a major offence in Saigon on the 30th of April. Saigon was where the Presidential Palace was, and after Saigon was invaded by Northern Vietnamese troops, the war effectively ended, and North Vietnam won the victory and reunified the country under a communist government. During the time Australia spent over in Vietnam, 60,000 allied troops served including Air Force and Navy personnel, in which 521 Australian troops died and over 3,000 were wounded.