Personal cost:
The Vietnam War was finally concluded on 30 April 1975, with the fall of the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces. The war claimed between 2 and 5.7 million Southeast Asian lives,[3] a large number of whom were civilians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War_casualties
Second Indochina War (1960-75): 3 500 000 [make link]
Vietnam War (1965-73): 1 700 000
Most historians of the Second Indochina War concern themselves primarily with the American Phase of the conflict, 1965-73; however, many do not specify whether their estimated death tolls cover only this phase of the war or the whole thing. An asterisk(*) indicates that the number seems to cover the entire conflict rather than just the American Phase, but check the "Sources" section to see exactly which years are covered by each authority:
South Vietnam military
181,483 (Gilbert)
185,000 to 225,000 (Britannica)
220,357 (Lewy, Ency. Americana)
223,748 (Summers; also 3 April 1995 AP)
224,000 (Kutler, Olson)
250,000 (Clodfelter, Grenville*)
254,257 (Wallechinsky*, COWP [1965-75])
650,000 (Small & Singer)
[MEDIAN: 224,000]
North Vietnamese military and Viet Cong
444,000 (Ency. Americana)
500,000 (S&S)
660,000 (Olson)
666,000 (Lewy, with the possibility that as many as 222,000 (1/3) of these were actually SVN civilians mistaken for VC)
666,000 (Summers)
700,000 (COWP [DRV 1965-75])
700,000-1,000,000 (Wallechinsky*)
900,000 (Britannica; Grenville*)
922,290 (Gilbert [NVN soldiers + civilians + VC])
1,000,000 (Clodfelter)
1,100,000 (Tucker*, Official VN* [1954-75])
[MEDIAN: starred*: 1,000,000. unstarred: 666,000]
South Vietnamese civilians
50,000 (Gilbert)
250,000 (Olson)
287,000 (Clodfelter = 247,600 war deaths + 38,954 assassinated by NLF)
300,000 (Kutler; Summers)
340,000 (Lewy's estimate, with the possibility that an additional 222,000 counted as VC (above) belong in this category)
430,000 (The Sen. E. Kennedy Commission, according to Lewy, Olson)
522,000 (Wallechinsky*)
1,000,000 (Britannica [in both North and South]; Eckhardt; Grenville*)
2,000,000 (Tucker*, Official VN* [N&S, 1954-75],)
[MEDIAN: starred*: ca. 1,500,000. unstarred: 300,000]
North Vietnamese civilians: 65,000 (Kutler, Lewy, Olson, Summers, Wallechinsky) by American bombing.
USA
55,337 (Gilbert)
47,378 KIA + 10,799 other = 58,177 (Official US DoD, 1964-73)
58,159 (Kutler)
58,153 (Wallechinsky*, COWP)
58,000 (Britannica)
47,244 KIA + 10,446 other = 57,690 (Olson; Summers, 1961-80)
57,605 (Ency. Americana)
56,146 (Lewy: 46,498 KIA + 10,388 other + 719 MIA)
56,000 (S&S)
South Korea: 4,407 (Lewy, Olson, Summers); 4,687 (Wallechinsky, COWP); 5,000 (S&S)
Philippines: 1,000 (S&S)
Thailand: 351 (Lewy, Olson, Summers, Wallechinsky); 1,000 (S&S)
Australia: 469 (Lewy, Summers, Olson [w/NZ]); 492 (S&S); 494 (Wallechinsky); 520 (AWM)
TOTAL
1,021,442 (COWP)
1,216,000 (military only, S&S)
1,312,000 (Summers)
1,353,000 (Lewy)
1,520,453 (WHPSI: S. Vietnamese only, 1965-75)
1,637,000 (Olson)
1,721,000 (Kutler)
1,749,000 (Wallechinsky*)
1,800,000 (B&J*, 1960-75)
2,058,000 (Eckhardt)
2,163,000 (Britannica)
2,500,000 (Grenville*)
3,000,000 (1965-75, Chomsky* (1987))
>3,100,000 (Tucker*; Official VN*)
MEDIAN TOTALS
Whole conflict*: [MEDIAN of TOTALS: ca. 2,750,000] or [TOTAL of MEDIANS: ca. 2,850,000]
American Phase (unstarred): [MEDIAN of TOTALS: ca. 1,700,000] or [TOTAL of MEDIANS: ca. 1,300,000]
Misc. Atrocities:
Lewy:
36,725 civilians assassinated by VC/NVA, 1957-72
2,800 civilians executed and 3,000 missing after Hue was captured by VC/NVA, 1968
400 civilians massacred by USAns in the area of Son My village, incl. 175-200 in My Lai hamlet, 1968
Because of the lack of weapons recovered from many bodies, Lewy considers the possibility that up to 222,000 VC KIA may have actually been innocent bystanders. (Or maybe not. Poor evidence either way.)
Harff & Gurr: 475,000 civilians in NLF areas were victims of repressive politicide, 1965-72
Young: Hue massacre, 1968:
Officially: 2,800-5,700
Len Ackland: 300-400
Chomsky (1987): 21,000 VC civilian officials assassinated under US/GVN Phoenix project (-in text. Endnote gives estimates ranging 40-48,000.). Lewy considers these to be (mostly) legitimate military targets.
October 22, 2003 Toledo Blade: Tiger Force (US) committed ongoing atrocities in Quang Nam province, July-Nov 1967. Incomplete records show 81 murders. The unit reported 1000+ enemies killed, but it sounds like a lot of those weren't legit. From the article details, I'd guess they murdered a few hundred (300±) civilians. [http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031022/SRTIGERFORCE/110190169]
Hanson:
VN civilians k. by indiscriminate American bombing: 50,000
VN civilians k. by indiscriminate Communist rocketing, artillery and terrorism: 400,000
Rummel:
51,000 democides by South Vietnam (1963-75), incl...
executions: 30,000
forced relocations: 5,000 dead
prison deaths: 5,000
166,000 democides by NVN/VC in SVN:
Officials assassinated: 17,000
Civilians assassinated: 49,000
Refugees killed, 1975: 50,000
Misc: 50,000
6,000 democides by USA
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat2.htm
Recalculating War's Psychic Cost
by Richard J. McNally
Though the Vietnam War ended more than three decades ago, the battle over its psychiatric cost continues. For researchers and clinicians, this debate centers on the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Americans who served in that controversial conflict.
http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=the_cost_of_war_the_debate_over_trauma_i&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Military Costs:
As the presidency changed in America, President John F. Kennedy, during the spring of 1961, increased the U.S. military commitment in both equipment and men. Aid increased from $50 million per year to $144 million for 1961. At the same time President Diem agreed to the assignment of advisers to battalion level. This significantly increased the number of advisors. So much that it went out of Geneva agreement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Assistance_and_Advisory_Group
Economic costs:
Estimates of the cost of the Vietnam war vary all over the place, with one analyst putting the figure as high as $900 billion. But that includes all kinds of indirect and future costs--21st century veterans' benefits, the cost of inflation resulting from the war, you name it. A bit too blue-sky for our purposes.
The Defense Department in the 1970s came up with a much more conservative figure--$140 billion in direct military outlays between 1965 and 1974. This includes some Pentagon overhead, i.e., money that presumably would have been spent whether there was a war or not. However, other estimates of "incremental" costs run anywhere from $112 billion to $155 billion, so we're probably safe in going with 140.
The combined population of North and South Vietnam in 1969, the midpoint of substantial U.S. involvement, was somewhere around 39 million. That means that over 10 years we spent about $3,600 for every Vietnamese man, woman, and child. Today you could buy most of a Yugo with that kind of money. At first glance, hardly enough reason to abandon a war of national liberation.
But let's put this in perspective. Per capita annual income in South Vietnam in 1965 by one estimate was $113. At $3,600 per, we could have kept those guys in rice and fish sauce for pretty much the rest of their lives, with color TV and a Barcalounger thrown in. As an added bonus, the country would not have suffered incalculable war damage, and 1.8 million more Vietnamese would not be dead (or at least they would have died other than by being shot, blown up, etc.).
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_161.html
2007-02-28 17:56:52
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answer #1
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answered by Joe Schmo from Kokomo 6
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