Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
What was the Impact of the Vietnam War? - Coggle Diagram
What was the Impact of the Vietnam War?
Cost
Nixon’s reputation was also damaged as a result of the Watergate scandal
US was defeated and humiliated in the eyes of the world - morale of US army took a long time to recover
Cost US roughly $167 billion which led to internal inflation
US Military Consequences - Positive
Washington realised it needed to listen to its people and recognise weaknesses of the army
Congress overrode Nixon’s veto of a bill to end of military operations immediately.
Congress passed the War Powers Act (1973) to gain more influence over future deployment of US military forces & prevented Presidents from being able to act without the consent of Congress
Weinberger Doctrine developed - when to use military intervention although this has eroded in more recent political events especially concerning US in the Middle East
Vietnam
Mixed race children of US soldiers were outcasts and turned to begging or prostitution
Supporters of the old regime in the south were persecuted or brain washed in concentration camps
Ford imposed a trade embargo on Vietnam which lasted til 1994
Resisted Chinese invasion in 1979 proving VW was a nationalist struggle rather than a Communist one
Vietnam emerged as strong and successful - invaded Cambodia and set up its own puppet gov there in 1978 known as the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK)
Fish scarce due to people escaping in boats - 1 million fled from boats from Vietnam to the US many living in squalid refugee camps in SE Asia
Death toll
Vietnamese casualties were 12% of it’s population
Over 58,000 Americans died - the fourth highest death rate of all American wars
Total Vietnamese death toll was 4,648,528
US Public Attitude
Debate followed on draft dodgers - roughly 100,000 men left US to avoid Conscription some going to Canada, which accepted them as legal immigrants. President Ford created a ‘Clemency Board’ to manage amnesty to draft dodgers
President Jimmy Carter granted a blanket pardon rather than amnesty to draft-dodgers (excl deserters)
One section of a whole gen of young men were traumatised by their experiences - leading to suicide, divorce, drug addiction and alcoholism, as well as panic, rage, anxiety, depression and emotional emptiness years later
Caused deep divisions in US public - supporters disagreed with opponents of the War veterans disgusted at the ‘draft dodgers’
The Communist Bloc
Summit with Mao showed the Communist bloc had weaknesses which could be exploited
SEATO lost relevance and was disbanded in 1976
Domino theory proved to be flawed - Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos did fall but Malaya, Singapore and Thailand did not fall.
Morality
Communists failed to turn their victory into achievements for peacetime - farmers preferred to sell rice on the black market then hand it over to gov officials
Agent Orange and napalm had created hideous victims - higher than average cancer cases exists still today