A Study Guide by Fiona Hall
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© ATOM 2016 A STUDY GUIDE BY FIONA HALL http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-939-9 http://theeducationshop.com.au friendship grew between Australians and Asians. OVERVIEW Those bonds remained and after the war, Team veterans helped Vietnamese refugees find a new ‘Vietnam: The War That Made Australia’ is a major home in Australia. In doing so, this unsung unit of 3-part series that tells the extraordinary story of the soldiers played their part in transforming Australia Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (aka ‘The into a multicultural nation. Team’), an elite unit of soldiers sent to Vietnam in 1962 to train the South Vietnamese Army to fight The series opens in 1962, when the Cold War is at the communists. its height and communist forces threaten to over- run South East Asia. Red paranoia stalks Australia The first Australian soldiers in and the last to leave, and many fear that Asian communists will be on The Team would become the most highly deco- our shores if not stopped. Australia responds by rated unit of the war with four Victoria Crosses to sending the Australian Army Training Team to its name. It’s a little-known story and many of its Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese Army. The veterans are talking for the first time. Revelatory US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is waging its and moving, the Vietnam War they experienced own war, using native tribesmen to form clan- is unlike that of any other Australians who fought destine guerrilla units, and seizes on the Team’s there. Experts in guerrilla warfare, the men of the experience to help form a ruthless counter-terror Team did not fight with the regular Australian Army, campaign to wipe out the communist guerrillas, but alongside the South Vietnamese Army, units the Viet Cong. As episode one ends, an already of native tribesmen and the US Special Forces. dirty war accelerates with the arrival of hundreds Experienced, intelligent men, they were at the of thousands of US ground forces. Fighting on the sharp end of a vicious conflict in which they wit- front line, Team members witness firsthand the nessed the worst excesses of the enemy and their brutality of US tactics. own allies; many of The Team still bear the psycho- logical and physical scars of their experiences. Episode two sees the war becoming more barbarous and Team members are embroiled in some of its Vietnam was also a transformative experience for bloodiest events. Team veterans return to Vietnam to many Team veterans. These men came from a relive their part in the Tet Offensive, a bloody turn- country steeped in the White Australia Policy, a cul- ing point in the war and a nightmare that has stayed ture that demonized and excluded Asians, but now with these men to this day. The final episode looks the war had them fighting, living and next to men at the Team’s departure from Vietnam in 1972. It is © ATOM 2015 © ATOM they grew up believing were inferior. In the midst of a moment of shame and regret for Team members combat, prejudice melted away and deep bonds of who feel as if they’re abandoning their Vietnamese 2 brothers. But years later, they come to their aid by It also addresses the Cross-curriculum Priority of playing their part in the resettlement of Vietnamese ‘Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia’. refugees, a moment that heralds a cultural revolution in Australian life - multiculturalism. Specific Links for Year 10 History: The series features candid and emotional in- YEAR 10 HISTORY LEVEL terviews with surviving members of the Team, DESCRIPTION - THE MODERN with their Vietnamese brothers-in-arms, and the Vietnamese refugees the Team helped to resettle WORLD AND AUSTRALIA in Australia. Throughout the series, members of the Team return to Vietnam to re-live pivotal and The Year 10 curriculum provides a study of the his- emotionally confronting moments of the war and, tory of the modern world and Australia from 1918 in doing so, tackle demons that have haunted them to the present, with an emphasis on Australia in its for almost fifty years. global context. The twentieth century became a critical period in Australia’s social, cultural, eco- Revelatory and emotional, ‘Vietnam: The War That nomic and political development. The transforma- Made Australia’ reveals a new side to a war that tion of the modern world during a time of political changed lives and Australia forever. turmoil, global conflict and international coopera- tion provides a necessary context for understand- ing Australia’s development, its place within the CURRICULUM LINKS Asia-Pacific region and its global standing. ‘Vietnam: The War That Made Australia’ can be KEY INQUIRY QUESTIONS linked to the following subject areas within the Australian National Curriculum: A framework for developing students’ historical knowledge, understanding and skills is provided by • Year 10 History inquiry questions through the use and interpretation • Year 10 English of sources. The key inquiry questions for Year 10 are: • How did the nature of global conflict change during the twentieth century? • What were the consequences of World War II? How did these consequences shape the modern world? • How was Australian society affected by other significant global events and changes in this period? There are three depth studies for this historical period. For each depth study, there are up to three electives that focus on a particular society, event, movement or development. It is expected that © ATOM 2015 © ATOM ONE elective will be studied in detail. The content 3 PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITIES Prior to viewing ‘Vietnam: The War That Made Australia’, it is essential that students have a basic understanding of the Vietnam War. • As a class, brainstorm any ideas/key terms/facts that students have about ‘The Cold War’ and ‘The Vietnam War’. Explain to students that an understanding of The Cold War is crucial in explaining the events that led to the Vietnam War. • Present the following information to in each depth study elective is designed to allow students: detailed study of specific aspects of this historical By the time the period. Germans were » The Origins of The Cold War ‘Vietnam: The War That Made Australia’ relates defeated in 1945 The Cold War was fought between USSR (Union of directly to the following Depth Study: in World War Two, Soviet Socialist Republics) and the USA from 1946 the USSR and – 1991. At no time during this period did the two MIGRATION EXPERIENCES (1945 – USA emerged as the countries directly engage in direct combat – hence PRESENT) the term ‘cold war’. It was a war of propaganda, two most powerful espionage and rivalry from everything from sport, • The impact of at least ONE world event nations in the to weaponry, technological development and or development and its significance for world. global influence. Australia, such as the Vietnam War and Indochinese refugees (ACDSEH146) By the time the Germans were defeated in 1945 in • The contribution of migration to Australia’s World War Two, the USSR and USA emerged as changing identity as a nation and to its the two most powerful nations in the world. international relationships (ACDSEH147) • U.S.A – enormous economic power, huge Specific Links to Year 10 English: army, navy and air force. • U.S.S.R – enormous territory and the Literature: world’s biggest army. • Compare and evaluate a range of rep- resentations of individuals and groups in different historical, social and cultural Capitalism Communism contexts (ACELT1639) • Create imaginative texts that make Government Government should Government should control relevant thematic and intertextual connec- Control not interfere the economy for the tions with other texts (ACELT1644) in the economy benefit of all citizens. any more than necessary. Competition Competition is Competition puts people against healthy and each other. All should work encourages together for the common good. individuals to be the best they can. Profit Profits are a fair Profits kept in the hands reward for owners of a few represents the of business. exploitation of workers. Different wages for different jobs is fair and encourages people to aim higher. © ATOM 2015 © ATOM 4 of Europe going again. This was known as ‘The Marshall Plan’ (name after US General George Marshall), and was driven largely by the belief that countries helped by (and dependent on) American aid would not fall under communist rule. Linked to the Marshall Plan in ideology, the Truman Doctrine was formally announced in March 1947 by President Truman and stated that it was ‘America’s job to contain the spread of Communism’. This applied not just to Europe, but to the entire world. This doctrine, along with the ‘Domino Theory’ (if Although they had been allies during WW2, once one country fell to communism, it would lead to the common enemy of Germany had been re- the fall of all countries in that region) would see the moved, increasing distrust and suspicion grew USSR and the USA (and her allies) engage in many between the two nations. This was in large part due battles over the next 40 years. to their conflicting political ideologies: Capitalism and Communism. Re Cap: Under the title “The Origins of the Cold War”, students are to answer the following: In1945,the leaders of the U.S.A, Britain and the U.S.S.R agreed to divide Germany and Berlin 1. What was the ‘Cold War’ and when and why into four zones (American, Soviet, British and did it begin? French). Between 1945 – 1949, the U.S.S.R set 2. In your own words, what are the main up Communist governments in Poland, Albania, differences between ‘capitalism’ and Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Hungary ‘communism’? (essentially controlling Eastern Europe).