Significance Of The Vietnam War On New Zealand
Change In Foreign Policies, Change In Government, Change
in International Alliances
New Zealand, at the time of the
Vietnam War, was involved in an alliance with Australia and the United States
of America, known as the ANZUS agreement. Due to America’s campaign against the
spread of communism, the United States found themselves in a war with the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The ANZUS agreement posed as a call to honour
for New Zealand during this period despite the controversy surrounding the
motives of the war. the Dilemma that new zealand found itself in was whether to go to war with our honour intact and with that, the honour of our word intact, or to not go to war and risk losing the trust of the rest of the world and become condemned as a nation that breaks vows and honours agreements only when it suited us. this dilemma and "Sitting on the fence" about whether or not going to war was actually the best thing to do is the reason for new zealand's delay in entering the war. The first New Zealand military personnel deployed to
Vietnam were sent in June 1964, a rather late start some would argue, since the
first outbreak of violence and conflict erupted in 1959, five years before New
Zealand’s initial personnel were sent.
There were a few contributing factors to this delay.
The involvement in Vietnam by New Zealand caused mass controversy and protests erupted throughout the nation. From the initial breakout of war, New Zealand was hesitant at the idea of assisting the US despite the fact that it had signed the Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty (or more commonly known as the ANZUS Treaty) in 1951 in order to protect the security of the Pacific. By the time the US had contacted New Zealand leaders about the participation in the war, the country had already seen anti-war protesters having their say. many protesters were young men and women studying at a high education level, eg University/college, and were making their voices heard by the government, telling them that New Zealand didn't want to partake in another country's civil war that had nothing to do with us. The Department of External Affairs in Wellington also had Very few, if any, positive opinions to offer in the matter and were decidedly against the idea of sending ground forces into Vietnam. They were determined not to have their hands tied in this matter and instead suggested that New Zealand attend the contingency planning talks as a restraining influence and not as the instrument of the United States. However just days later, New Zealand participated in one of these talks after being assured that it wouldn’t cover only the ground troops participation but will instead look at a large range of military possibilities. New Zealand representative Sir Peter Phipps, Chief of the Defence Staff was surprised at the tone of the conference, and was left with a string impression that security in the Pacific had deteriorated so much that US ground troops would be arriving any day, the only questions left to answer were how, where and when these forces would arrive.
the significance that vietnam has had on new zealand has been monumental. as far as alliances go, new zealand has become a much more independent country, not relying on pacts with other countries for protection such as USA and Britain. the vietnam war was the first war in which new zealand did not fight alongside traditional ally, Britain, but instead followed the more recent pact with USA and Australia, the ANZUS alliance. the turnout and controversy of the war caused a rift between new zealand and the US and thus has culminated in new zealand splitting from this alliance. new zealand still aids USA in conflicts such as those in the middle east, but only as an independent nation and not as an obligation in order to preserve its international security by relying on other nations.
There were a few contributing factors to this delay.
The involvement in Vietnam by New Zealand caused mass controversy and protests erupted throughout the nation. From the initial breakout of war, New Zealand was hesitant at the idea of assisting the US despite the fact that it had signed the Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty (or more commonly known as the ANZUS Treaty) in 1951 in order to protect the security of the Pacific. By the time the US had contacted New Zealand leaders about the participation in the war, the country had already seen anti-war protesters having their say. many protesters were young men and women studying at a high education level, eg University/college, and were making their voices heard by the government, telling them that New Zealand didn't want to partake in another country's civil war that had nothing to do with us. The Department of External Affairs in Wellington also had Very few, if any, positive opinions to offer in the matter and were decidedly against the idea of sending ground forces into Vietnam. They were determined not to have their hands tied in this matter and instead suggested that New Zealand attend the contingency planning talks as a restraining influence and not as the instrument of the United States. However just days later, New Zealand participated in one of these talks after being assured that it wouldn’t cover only the ground troops participation but will instead look at a large range of military possibilities. New Zealand representative Sir Peter Phipps, Chief of the Defence Staff was surprised at the tone of the conference, and was left with a string impression that security in the Pacific had deteriorated so much that US ground troops would be arriving any day, the only questions left to answer were how, where and when these forces would arrive.
the significance that vietnam has had on new zealand has been monumental. as far as alliances go, new zealand has become a much more independent country, not relying on pacts with other countries for protection such as USA and Britain. the vietnam war was the first war in which new zealand did not fight alongside traditional ally, Britain, but instead followed the more recent pact with USA and Australia, the ANZUS alliance. the turnout and controversy of the war caused a rift between new zealand and the US and thus has culminated in new zealand splitting from this alliance. new zealand still aids USA in conflicts such as those in the middle east, but only as an independent nation and not as an obligation in order to preserve its international security by relying on other nations.