Anti-communism in Australia

The period 1945 to 1965 is known as the Cold War. Australia developed policies such as Forward Defense and had a fear of communism, referring to its spread and threat in Australia as "Reds under beds".

The year 1945 is known as being the end of World War II. A demand was made on Japan on 26 July for surrender, threatening the consecutive destruction of eleven Japanese cities if it did not. They didn't take the threats seriously so on the 6th of August an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, killing 75,000 people. On the 9th of August, Nagasaki was bombed. Two square miles were devastated, and 39,000 people were killed. The Japanese surrendered and the official instrument of surrender was signed on 2 September 1945.

The world was divided into two "blocs". Bloc 1 was comprised of capitalist and democratic countries such as United States, Great Brittan, France, Australia, West Germany, South Korea and Japan. These countries signed the NATO treaty. Bloc 2 was comprised of Soviet Union, East Germany, North Korea and China. These countries signed the Warsaw Pact. Australia formed stronger bonds with America and paid closer attention to south east Asia because they were closer than Britain.

The divisions between the Eastern and the Western worlds in the late 1940s led to several problems, one of them being the division of Germany and Berlin. France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union each controlled one of four zones in Germany. The French, British, and Americans gradually consolidated their zones into West Germany, while the Soviet Union established East Germany.

Communism is a system of rule in which the state controls most of the wealth of the nation and where ownership of private property can be limited. A communist state has only one political party, which restricts the freedom and rights of an individual.

Countries of the NATO treaty feared that communism would take over and rule countries instead of them. The fear of communism spread quickly as people began to think about what would happen if communism reached Australia. The idea that communism would spread quickly was dubbed the “Domino Theory”.

Australia saw communism as a threat and realized that after Wold war II, it couldn't protect itself. For this reason, Australia adopted a policy of forward defense, the motto being “Better to fight them overseas than at home”. Wanting to maintain its allies, Australia supported actions made by Britain and the United Stated against communists in Asia.

In 1948, there was a rebellion against the British by some members of the Malayan society who were hoping to set up their own communist state. In 1950, the British sent troops into Malaya and the Mayan Emergency began. Australia sent troops to assist the British in 1955, but the conflict wasn't resolved until 1960.

Also in 1950, Australian troops were sent to fight in the Korean War. Initially the war was between South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) but developed into an international war involving twenty nations. At the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was split along the 38th degree parallel, the Soviet Union controlling the North, and the United states controlling the South. The United States tried to organize a reunification of North and South Korea, however, the Soviet Union didn't cooperate. North Korea established a communist government under the leadership of Kim Il-sung and South Korea established a democratic government under the leadership of Syngman Rhee.

In June 1950, North Korea, with permission from the Soviet Union, launched an attack on South Korea. The United Nation forces, including Australia and the United States, went to assist South Korea. The North Korean forces almost beat the South Korean army, until the UN forces stabilized the peninsula. In September 1950, they cut off the North Korean forces about 160 km south of the 38th degree parallel. The North Korean army was quickly crushed, and more than 125,000 soldiers were captured.

UN forces then spread into North Korea, but promised that the troops would be home by Christmas. As UN forces neared the border between North Korea and China, the Chinese army attacked them with 180,000 troops, which changed the balance of forces. The Chinese army pushed the UN forces back across the thirty-eighth parallel and proceeded south. In February 1951 the UN army finally forced the Chinese to withdraw from South Korea. By the end of April, UN forces occupied positions slightly north of the thirty-eighth parallel.

In June 1951 the Soviet Union proposed that cease-fire discussions begin, and in July the representatives of the UN and Communist commands began truce negotiations and a cease-fire was established on July 27, 1953.