Why did Australia join the Vietnam War?

Australia joined the Vietnam war for many reasons. The major reason was Robert Menzies, the Prime Minister at the time, fear of communism and that the "domino theory" would come into effect (communism would keep heading south towards Australia) He tried to combat this through containment and forward defense. Another reason Australia joined the Vietnam war was Australia also joined the Vietnam to honour its treaties and show its support to the US as the …

…larger Indonesian army. By strengthening its ties with America, Australia would become much stronger defensively. By supporting American in Vietnam Australia was also "repaying" them for their help against the Japanese in World War II. The points highlighted above are the reasons that Australia joined the Vietnam war. Some of these points are unjust reasons for joining a war but, at the time, with the fear of communism and Australia's defense, they were very important.