The years of the 1950s and 60s was a time where many hardships occurred as global tension was high and as a result many wars occurred as well as movements. The historical issues and events of the fifties and sixties was often propelled by popular culture through art and media such as television, paintings and music. The civil rights movement succeeded in bringing equal rights to the African American population within the United States in a peaceful manner thanks to meaningful art forms. The Vietnam War was widely seen as a controversial conflict and opened insight to Australians as to what was actually happening through music and television which in turn swayed the public opinion of Australia’s involvement with the war.
During the mid-fifties to the late sixties America was facing a Civil rights movement in which the goal was to end
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The war also inspired many to protest through music or broadcasts. A secondary source, “The first ‘television war” is a depiction of the Vietnam War visualized through the perspective of the cameramen. Though initially the television broadcasted only positive information, though, as the war seemed to have no ending in sight and public opinion turned against the war as well as selective conscription of Australians the television started to broadcast horrifying images and stories reflecting off the of the opinion of the people further strengthening criticism against the war. Another type of media known as protest music gained a vast amount of popularity in turn becoming a part of culture itself such as “Smiley” sung by Ronnie Burns which outlined the terrible experiences Australians faced during the war. Soon many songs as well as television broadcasts were mirrored upon the attitudes towards historical issues such as the Vietnam War inspiring many people to
Soldiers were dying, and they continued to be sent over to fight. The war itself provided a major wave of anti-war rhetoric that is still prominent today. The anti-war rhetoric was pushed through politicians, celebrities, concerts, protests, average citizens of different economic classes, but most importantly through song. “In the 1960s, several now-influential artists appealed to the disaffected counterculture’s emphasis on peace and love, especially with the sliding approval rates of the Vietnam War. As public approval of the Vietnam War dwindled in the latter half of the 1960s, popular music artists began to record songs that reflected this disapproval and ultimately became a new method of protest (Hopkins).”
60,000 Australian men participated in the War in total . This research shows, the Vietnam War was a very brutal, time consuming and also costly war, not only to Australia but also to the Americans and other allies. The war was the cause of the greatest social and political dissent in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War. The information displayed, outlines our involvement as well as the significant role we played as a Nation. Moreover the Vietnamese suffered a hefty 2 million dead as the war concluded.
Australia initially became involved in the Vietnam War in august 1962 when 30 military advisors. The men were set the task of assisting in the training of the poorly equip and under trained south Vietnamese army this marked the beginning of Australian involvement in Vietnam. Australian involvement in the Vietnam War potentially was a very costly campaign loosing 520 live, but events and key battles in which Australian troops were involved played a significant role in the events of the Vietnam War. Through out the campaign a total of 49,211 Australians served in Vietnam, which in comparison is very small number to the mammoth American army of 580,000 soldiers. Although having a small number of soldiers serving the Australian forces still played
Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam war in 1960 happened for three major reasons. Firstly, the fear of communism that was spreading to the south due to ‘anti – communist’ propaganda created by Robert Menzies during the 1950’s. Secondly, ANZUS and SEATO treaties that Australia played a fundamental role in, in which the treaties obligated Australia to join the war to support their allies. And thirdly, the relationship between Australia and America had strengthened as prime minister Harold holt provided full military support to America in the Vietnam war. It is in which Australia was involved in the Vietnam war and had led to the conflict of the Battle of Long Tan in 1966 which was significant due to it was one of the most well-known engagements
Why was Australian society divided over the issue of our involvement in the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1972? The Vietnam War (November 1, 1955 – April 30, 1975) was a very controversial and different war. Throughout out the duration of it, this war divided Australian society, affected by things such as conscription, the role of the media in the war and the television horrors that were broadcasted back to the Australian population and many other issues that raised tensions between the politicians and the citizens of Australia. Although this war was notorious for the conflict and arguments between the population and the politicians, there were still some significant and justifiable reasons to commit troops to the war effort.
Many historians view the 1950s as an era of prosperity, conformity, and consensus, and view the 1960s as turbulences, protest, and disillusionment. I agree with many historians and their point of view to this era. Socially speaking, although the Civil Rights movement had started roughly around 1954, the 1960s was the period where the Civil Rights movement skyrocket. The 1950s were viewed as a prosperous and conformist for the reason of the development of the suburbs.
Australia got involved in Vietnam in an attempt to stop the spread of communism in South Vietnam and protect is position in the Asian Pacific; this is a key event in Australia’s history as it changed the course of Australia’s allegiances and almost lead to warfare on Australian soil. Though relating cause and effect by using numerous historical sources I will assess the key reasons why Australia got involved in the Vietnam War. Robert Menzies parliament address in 1965, an article from The Conversation describing the events 50 years later as well as multiple extracts from “Contested Spaces” by Thomas Cantwell and key extracts from the History textbook all illustrate the main reasons why Australia was keen to get involved in the war in South
VIETNAM WAR ASSIGNMENT: STRUCTURED NOTES MAIN TARGET POINTS: Cohesion and Division Social, Political, Economic(minor) Differing and Changing perspectives of the impact/ conflict Impact/Effects on groups/individuals Consequences of Australian involvement Continuity and Change HYPOTHESIS FOCUS QUESTIONS NATURE, ORIGINS AND PROGRESS OF THE VIETNAM WAR ON AUSTRALIA • By far one of the greatest influences of the Cold War on Australia was revealed in the Australian involvement towards the Vietnam conflict. • The Origins of the conflict in Vietnam stem from various different factors, these of which include: Vietnamese aspirations of nationalism and independence: These aspirations derive from colonial rulers such as Japan and France.
This eventually lead to the development of the Civil Rights Movement which began in the 1950s and was an act towards discrimination. Martin Luther King’s ideals were the most reasonable for America in the 1960s because of his method of nonviolence and his belief that people should not be
The Vietnam War lasted twenty years, it started in 1955 and didn’t end until 1975, during this time over three million people were killed and many more were injured. Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1962 and continued until many years after the war. The first refugees fled from South Vietnam in 1975, they travelled by boat to seek refuge from countries like Australia, many people saw Australia as a safe country to move to, with their families, an continue their lives away from their destroyed
Throughout the American 1960’s there was a Civil Rights Movement. This movement gained a lot of traction within a short amount of time through many people. There were two leaders with opposing tactics but had the same goal reined in the movement. One leader was Martin Luther King with the tactic of Nonviolent Civil Disobedience and integration. The second leader was Malcolm X with the tactic to fight back and to have the communities better themselves by being separate.
The story covered many different topics ranging from the Women’s Rights Movement to the Manson Murders. The book was intended for people who are interested in the impacts the 1960s had on the United States, and people interested in learning more about how much changed in the 1960s from a first-person perspective. The point of this book is to examine American society in the 1960s and to highlight the role the media played in impacting events like Vietnam and the Women’s Rights Movement. This book teaches us about how impactful the 1960s were on American
There were many changes that occurred in the 1960’s in specifically in the goals, strategies, and support of the movement for African American civil rights. While the movement started as peaceful, as the years went along,
The tactics used civil rights movement of both the 1950’s and 1960’s were different helped them succeed in different ways. During the late 1950s the tactics that were used were political, while in the early in 1960s they used social and political tactics to get their goals achieved, but in the late 1960s the tactics that were used were primarily economic and social, In the 1950’s, the civil rights movement was very successful because activist showed the level of racism and segregation in the south. The tactics and resistance made in this time period helped achieve desegregation because and the resistance that the activists dealt with just made them become more aware in the media and hopefully spread nation wide.
The African American Civil Rights movement existed at large between the early fifties and the late sixties in a society that was constantly on the verge of social destruction. The black rights movement existed politically, socially, and economically everywhere in the United States. As time progressed the movement developed and saw many changes along with schisms separating activists and how they approached getting their rights. In the early fifties there was a large non-violent integration based movement spearheaded by figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. However, as the time progressed, the movement started seeing a more aggressive leadership with figures such as Malcolm X, but eventually it turned into an extremist movement