Title: The costs of the Vietnam War
Headings: The costs of the Vietnam War
The costs of the Vietnam War
Contents
A 20th-century tragedy
America’s war grief
Criticisms of US policy
Shattered confidence
Suffering of veterans
‘Agent Orange’
Vietnamese losses
Post-war refugee crisis
Famine and destruction

Content: The costs of the Vietnam War
The costs of the Vietnam War
One of the most famous images of the war, nine-year-old Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack. The human, environmental and economic costs of the Vietnam War were devastating. In September 1945, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the birth of an independent Vietnam. It would take another 30 years and several million lives, including more than 58,000 Americans, before this dream became a reality. Contents
1 A 20th-century tragedy
2 America’s war grief
3 Criticisms of US policy
4 Shattered confidence
5 Suffering of veterans
6 ‘Agent Orange’
7 Vietnamese losses
8 Post-war refugee crisis
9 Famine and destruction
A 20th-century tragedy
The struggle for Vietnam was one of the 20th century’s great human tragedies. Estimates of the number of people killed in Indochina range from two and a half million to more than four million. An even greater number were maimed, disfigured, orphaned, displaced or forced to flee as refugees. The Vietnam War was fought for civilians, by civilians and among civilians – and the majority of casualties were civilians. American planes dropped seven million tons of ordnance – three times the amount they had dropped in World War II – as well as napalm and chemical defoliants. This not only claimed lives but also devastated cities, buildings, infrastructure, farmland and vegetation.