Vietnam War Casualties & Statistics | How Many People Died in the Vietnam War? – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

What was the Vietnam War?

The Vietnam War was fought in Vietnamese territory between mainly South Vietnam/the United States and the Viet Cong of North Vietnam.

The Vietnam War began mainly over political conflict between Ho Chi Minh’s Communist state of North Vietnam and the U.S.-supported democracy of South Vietnam. The United States provided funding and troops to the South Vietnamese effort to prevent Communism from spreading further in East Asia. The Vietnam War was fought between 1954 (following the departure of the French) through 1975, when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam. The war was fought largely in North Vietnam and South Vietnam, though some fighting did occur in the neighboring territories of Cambodia and Laos. The forces involved in this war (by the conclusion of the war) included:

• 2.7 million American troops were sent to South Vietnam.
• South Vietnam supplied a total of 942,000 troops.
• Other nations such as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the Philippines provided a limited number of troops to South Vietnamese forces.
• The Viet Cong amassed an estimated 2.3 million troops by 1975.
• Support to North Vietnam was sent by Communist allies including China, North Korea, and the Soviet Union.

The war was fought in dense jungle terrain, so the American military developed a chemical solution known as Agent Orange to burn through the brush and lure out the hiding Viet Cong forces. It was first used in 1962 and was effective at its job. However, side effects occurred because of Agent Orange. Around half a million Vietnamese children were born with birth defects because of its use, and American soldiers and their families report side effects from being exposed to the chemical. It is still a concern in Southeast Asia today.

Vietnam War Casualties and Statistics

The Vietnam War death toll is estimated to be around 3.8 million casualties in total. Not all of these were military personnel; nearly half of the deaths of the Vietnam War were the deaths of civilians caught in the fighting. The numbers below are not exact, as there are still personnel who have not been identified or are identified as missing. These are the most accurate estimates of the death tolls for each group of fighters:

• The United States lost 58,220 known military personnel. Being killed in action was the leading cause of American casualties.
• It is estimated that South Vietnam lost between 200,000 and 250,000 fighters.
• The Viet Cong lost around 1.1 million combatants.
• Around 2 million civilians were killed in the territories of North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It is suspected that over 1.2 million of these deaths were murders.
• Aid sent from other nations to the South Vietnamese effort waged about 5,000 total deaths.
• It is unknown how much aid was lost from North Vietnamese allies.

Civilian Deaths in the Vietnam War

Civilians made up a large portion of the casualties in the Vietnam War. Many were never directly involved in the fighting, but rather were only caught in the crosshairs of South Vietnamese and North Vietnamese forces. Village battles were not uncommon as the two factions fought for control of the region. An estimated two million civilians of all nationalities, including those of Cambodia and Laos, were killed in the fighting. The exact breakdown still remains unclear, although an estimated 273,000 Cambodians and 62,000 Lao lost their lives. The majority of the remaining number of casualties were Vietnamese. Many of these deaths were suspected to be murders, often targeting able-bodied young men who could pose a threat to the other side should they have chosen to join the military. These deaths made up about 40% of the total casualties.

Furthermore, the murder of children was not uncommon to prevent them from joining the armed forces in the future, making up around 15% of total deaths. Many deaths, however, were not completely targeted as they were the result of chance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Both American/South Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong can be held accountable for the number of civilian deaths, but the Viet Cong had a larger hand in overtaking villages and using more offensive military tactics to draw out the South Vietnamese forces. An addition 3 million Vietnamese were left wounded and around 12 million were refugees.

Vietnam War End & Aftermath

The United States withdrew its forces in 1973, placing the onus on South Vietnam to fight its own battle. North Vietnam and the United States reached a peace agreement shortly after withdrawal. The Vietnam War officially came to an end in 1975 when South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam, unable to maintain the fight. The following year, in 1976, Vietnam was united as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Fighting continued on a lesser scale for some time afterwards and refugee numbers rose sharply due to the continued conflict, but the development of a strong trading market in the 80s helped the nation become more unified.

Civilian deaths are still ongoing because of the use of unexploded ordnances left behind from the war. The Viet Cong used the jungle terrain to their advantage both as a means of hiding, as well as a place to bury pressure-sensor explosives to wipe out unsuspecting bands of patrolling enemy forces. Not all mines were detonated during the war and as a result they are still being either dug up or mistakenly stepped on today.

More than 58,000 American casualties of the Vietnam War are commemorated on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC.

In the United States, the Vietnam War became known as one of the most unpopular wars that the nation had ever been involved in. Many movements on the home front arose in the early 1970s to end the war, which sped the process of withdrawing troops along. The war cost the United States over $120 billion and the lives of over 58,000 troops. The idea that this war was only to stop the spread of communism and push democracy on newly forming nations was very unpopular, and many civilians believed that the United States should not have gotten involved at all. Veterans were viewed negatively for their participation in the war, even if it was not by their choice to do so. Relations between the United States and Vietnam were stable in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and peace was maintained. Trade between the two nations ultimately resumed in the 1990s.

Lesson Summary

The Vietnam War was a costly conflict between all sides from both a financial and military perspective. The important statistics and information to remember from this lesson are:

• Colonial France inhabited Vietnam through the end of World War II.
• The French placed Emperor Bao Dai in charge of the nation initially, and he had democratic ideals.
• Ho Chi Minh believed that the country should be run through Communism, and created the Viet Cong to overthrow Bao Dai. He declared Vietnamese independence after taking the city of Hanoi under control.
• The Vietnam War, also called the Second Indochina War, began in 1954 following the departure of colonial French rule.
• The United States was involved in the Cold War at the time and wanted to stop the spread of Communism. They backed South Vietnam after Bao Dai’s government refused to vote to unite North and South Vietnam.
• The war involved over 7 million troops.
• Around 3.8 million casualties were suffered in total between both sides, with nearly half being civilian deaths.
• Causes of ongoing deaths and side effects include Agent Orange and unexploded ordnances.
• The Vietnam War is one of the most unpopular wars in American history.