The Effects of the Vietnam War

What were the effects of the Vietnam War on the combatants and on the region?

On United States

• $150 billion cost of war (estimated)

• 58,000 lives

• Troops were younger on average by 7 years compared to WWII

• Some were made to feel the guilt for the nation’s moral transgressions; others, responsibility for its failure.  Some blamed timid civilian leaders that had prevented the military from winning the war

• Many veterans experienced problems with drugs, alcohol, joblessness, broken homes, and post-traumatic stress disorder

• The war made Americans more sceptical and cautious. (The
Vietnam Syndrome)

• POW/MIA

• 2,000 are still listed as POW/MIA.  

• By the mid-1980s, Vietnam (who had 300,000 MIAs of their own), went out of their way to help the U.S. recover the bodies because a poll in 1993 revealed that 57% of Americans believed that service personnel were alive and being held captive in Vietnam

• Lessons Learned

• The difficulties of intervening in a foreign civil war

• The pitfalls of incrementalism

• The perils of underestimating an enemy

• The limits of public tolerance for questionable uses of military power abroad

• Uncensored press can cause problems in a war

On Vietnam

• Environmental
• 20 million gallons of herbicides and defoliants, including Agent Orange, were sprayed on 14% of S. Vietnam
• 1 million Vietnamese, including as many as 150,000 children suffer from birth defects, miscarriages, and various illnesses possibly attributable to the chemicals
• 3.5 million land mines still litter the countryside and causes many deaths and casualties each year
• Three times as many bombs were dropped on Vietnam as were in WWI
• Economic

• A U.S embargo was put on Vietnam.  In the post-war years, per capita income averaged around $100; by the end of the century it was $376
• In the mid-1980s, a program of doi moi, or renovation, was implemented.  It had some success, as Vietnam became the second largest exporter of rice.  In the program, the regime hoped to:
• In 1994, Clinton lifted the embargo on Vietnam.  30 companies opened offices the day after the embargo was lifted.  Nike became Vietnam’s largest foreign employer
• Full normalization came in 1995 – the Vietnamese (in a symbolic act) returned the crumbling embassy in Ho Chi Minh City
• Social

• South Vietnamese who remained endured poverty, oppression, and forced labor.  Many non-communists were killed
• 400,000 suffered the horror of “reeducation” camps, some for as long as 10 years
• 1.5 million “boat people” fled the country after 1975, with 1 million resettling in the U.S.
• The Viet Cong was merged with the North Vietnamese Army in a way that its separate identity was destroyed
• In response to suppressing cross-border raids and to preserve a “friendly” government next door, Vietnam waged war with Cambodia for a decade, beginning in 1978.  This action led to Vietnam’s diplomatic isolation with all countries except the Soviet Union (both signed a treaty in 1978)

On Cambodia

• The Khmer Rouge (a communist guerilla force) took over the capital, Phnom Penh on 17/4/75
• Thousands of lives were lost
• Two million were refugees
• The country faced starvation
• Khmer Rouge imposed a gruesome totalitarianism and began the forced relocation of much of the        population
• Leader Pol Pot killed millions in a genocide

Laos

• The Pathet Lao (a communist guerilla force) took over, making no effort to hide its subservience to Vietnam. They had been given supplies during the war from the North Vietnamese
• America’s loyal allies, the Hmong, were the victims of Pathet Lao genocide 3.    100,000 escaped, but another 100,000 were killed in the genocide