The Vietnam War
And its effects around the globe
“You will kill ten of us, we will kill one of you, but in the end, you will tire of it first.” - Ho Chi Minh
Vietnam War Part 1
Countries affected by the Vietnam War
Vietnam
Chemical Weapons
- Agent Orange (Herbicide Orange) was one of the violent and defoliants used by the U.S military
- During 1661-1671
- Got its name by the color of orange-striped barrels
- Between 2.1 and 4.5 million Vietnamese civilians spread with dioxin-contaminated herbicides at the time of spraying
- The WHO recommends limit of 70 programs per kilogram of body weight or 0.07 ppt (parts per trillion) in blood
- Causes disabled babies, and weakened bodies
- Spoils the land with the chemical, makes it impossible to farm
Sino-Vietnamese War
- 1970s~1980s
- Not a major war
- China and USSR wanted to make military agreements with Vietnam
- Vietnam chose USSR
- Vietnam went to war against China
United States
JFK - "(The US) will never start a war."
- One of the first times where America had lost; Lost huge amount of courage, people thought they were invincible before the war
- Americans/ general public began to distrust the military and government in general, largely impacted the Democratic Party(broke them into half)
- United States left almost all their weapons in Vietnam
- Spent $150 billion dollars, used a lot of bombs (Operation Rolling Thunder)
- Severely damaged the U.S economy
- Congress- attack “imperial presidency’ through War Powers Act - restricting president’s ability to send American forces into combat without explicit Congressional approval
Cambodia
- Cambodia depended highly on agriculture
- Ravaging of the land (land was destroyed) - bombing campaigns, chemical weapons
- The "Rice Bowl" of the world was significantly altered (the constant presence of conventional and unconventional warfare)
- As a result, Cambodia fell to communist rebels called the 'Khmer Rouge'
- Khmer Rouge killed almost a quarter of the whole Cambodian population
- The Khmer Rouge wanted "Agrarian Society"
Laos
- Pathet Lao; nationalist group (also communists)
- Made to join Viet-Minh against the french
- United States and CIA tried to stop Pathet Lao
- Overthrew the Royal Lao government
USSR (Soviet Union)
Vietnam chose USSR over China; made new set of military and economic agreements
USSR gained many resources from Vietnam after the contract
Not much is known; USSR kept it private
Songs for The Vietnam War
Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival by Arthur23
Edwin Starr War What Is It Good For by BradMuzak