The United States has been involved in war for a long time since its founding, and there are traces of it igniting wars almost all over the world. If you want to say which countries the United States has been deadlocked in the war with after World War II, many people think of the Vietnam War and the Afghan War. The United States fought in Vietnam for 20 years, only to be defeated by the counterattack of the Vietnamese people and flee back to the United States, and the war became a nightmare for the United States.
After the end of the Vietnam War, the United States suffered heavy losses, and the confidence of American veterans who participated in the Vietnam War plummeted after returning home, resulting in the United States reducing foreign military activities for a long time after that. After the war, Vietnam captured a large number of American weapons and equipment, greatly increased military confidence, and was determined to dominate Southeast Asia with the encouragement and support of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the war also defeated three poor countries and three rich countries.
Vietnam War
During the French colonization of Vietnam, it supported the establishment of the South Vietnamese government in southern Vietnam, which led to the intensification of contradictions between the north and the south of Vietnam and the continuation of conflicts. After Vietnam's victory in the War of Resistance Against France, the United States took over French influence in Vietnam, supported the pro-American regime in South Vietnam, and supported south Vietnam to advance toward North Vietnam. As the scale of the military conflict between South Vietnam and North Vietnam expanded, the United States later became directly involved in the war and gave South Vietnam a large amount of military and economic assistance.
After the Vietnam War officially began, the United States sent a large number of bombers to carry out air strikes on NATO's ammunition depots and energy reserves. From March 1965 to November 1968, the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps dispatched more than 300,000 warplanes to carry out air raids against North Vietnam, and many cities were razed to the ground by shells that fell from their heads and faces, leaving vietnamese people homeless and unable to solve the problem of food and clothing.
It is understood that the amount of explosives thrown by the United States during the Vietnam War was as high as 7.662 million tons, far more than during World War II. Not only that, but the United States also sent warplanes to drop a large number of chemical weapons into Vietnam , Agent Orange. Agent Orange was originally a herbicide that could shed the leaves of flowers and trees, and because the Vietnamese forest was everywhere, North Vietnamese soldiers often hid inside to ambush American soldiers, causing a lot of losses to the American army.
In retaliation, the United States used a large number of fighters to drop Agent Orange into North Vietnam, and from 1962 to 1971, 76 million liters of Agent Orange was dropped. Agent Orange contains carcinogens, and after being released into the dense forests and rice fields of North Vietnam, the carcinogens inside spread everywhere with the water source, resulting in the extremely unsafe water and food eaten by the Vietnamese people, and many people suffer from incurable diseases.
When Vietnam was extremely short of food and military supplies, China had a "brotherhood and friend" friendship with it, and the two countries were close neighbors, so they resolutely extended a helping hand to Vietnam. On the other hand, Vietnam, which was backed by the Soviet Union, also received a lot of aid during the Vietnam War. Because China and the Soviet Union gave a lot of help to North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, the U.S. military did not win the war quickly, but fell into the quagmire of war.
The long-term U.S. military campaign in Vietnam had a major impact on its economy, anti-war sentiment at home increased, and in the face of various pressures, the United States had to end the war and send planes to pick up the Americans in Vietnam. After this protracted war, many countries have been greatly affected by this, some becoming richer and some becoming poorer.
Fight the three poor countries
After the vietnam war broke out, its neighbors were the most vulnerable to war, and Laos was affected by the war. At that time, Vietnam built a secret transport supply line to the south through Laos, with a total length of nearly 20,000 kilometers, which was an important passageway for North Vietnam to transport military supplies to the south. When the U.S. military learned of this, it dispatched warplanes to attack it.
Laos is a small country, whether economic or military, it is not worth mentioning in front of the United States, and when the US military bombs this secret transportation line, it cannot fight back forcefully. Under the long-term bombardment of the US military, millions of unexploded cluster bombs were left in Laos, which brought a lot of inconvenience to the Lao people in farming and working, and from time to time farmers encountered bomb injuries when doing farm work. After the war, Laos's national strength was weak, and there was no equipment to clear this large area of unexploded bombs, and the life of the people was very difficult.
Vietnam's neighbor, Cambodia, was also a victim, and the United States had conveniently extended the scope of the war to Cambodia when it attacked Vietnam, and the continued bombing operations had caused many losses to Cambodia. After the end of the Vietnam War, Cambodia did not get rid of the war, but was invaded by Vietnam that won the war against the US army, and the country was once again swept by the war, and the Cambodian people were often in the depths of the water.
Vietnam, of course, suffered the most losses in the war, with more than 1.1 million people killed and more than 600,000 wounded. Affected by Agent Orange, many children in Vietnam suffered from various difficult diseases after the war. The massive loss of population and the sharp decline in Vietnam's labor force have had a considerable impact on Vietnam's economic development, and many industrial facilities and infrastructure cannot be put into use.
Fight the rich three countries
Some countries were torn to pieces because they were involved in the Vietnam War, but other countries became rich because they joined the war. When the United States sent troops to Vietnam, it also joined forces with other countries to send troops, of which South Korea sent hundreds of thousands of troops to support the US military, which made the United States feel the sincerity of South Korea, so it worked hard to help South Korea develop, improve its level of industrialization, and rapidly improve its economy.
There is also a country is Singapore, Singapore has an excellent port, the US military to Vietnam to transport materials ships to pass through the Strait of Malacca, and the geographical position of Singapore has played an important role in the transit station, many US warships will dock in the singapore port, Singapore by providing maintenance support services for US warships, for it has brought a lot of economic income.
Thailand also gained a lot of benefits because of the Vietnam War, because it provided a reliable military base for the US military during the war, and also sent troops to the Vietnam battlefield to support the US military, and the United States was very satisfied with Thailand's active actions and provided it with a lot of economic and military assistance. Through long-term U.S. aid, Thailand has developed rapidly, and its position and influence in Southeast Asia have soared.
Looking at the pros and cons of different countries from the Vietnam War, we can find that once a country is surrounded by war, its neighbors are the most vulnerable countries, which is why we have been pursuing good-collar friendship. However, if you really want to protect your territorial dignity, you must first have a strong national defense force, and only by forming a very deterrent military combat force will you not be easily involved in the war.