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: Neither this bombing or the ground war was confined by the borders of Vietnam. Neighbouring countries Laos and Cambodia both suffered enormous human loss and material devastation, as well as the rise of terroristic and genocidal regimes. America’s war grief
The United States lost almost 60,000 personnel and civilians in Vietnam: 58,269 servicemen were killed and another 1,672 recorded as missing. America was deeply affected by these heavy losses and struggled to understand the meaning, significance and lessons of the Vietnam War. Many Americans simply chose not to speak of the Vietnam conflict, described by diplomat George Kennan as “the most disastrous undertaking” in 200 years of US history. Nevertheless, there was an inevitable wave of justifications, criticisms and retributions. Some declared that Vietnam was a nationalist conflict that Washington had no business intervening in. Its attempts at state-building failed utterly, beginning with its support for the post-war French colonial regime and its flawed choice of Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of South Vietnam, through to its propping up of Nguyen Van Thieu and the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). Criticisms of US policy
Some argued that America’s violence against civilians in Vietnam – from incidental killings to atrocities like My Lai and indiscriminate carpet bombing – made the United States no better than the communist regimes it was seeking to contain.