Vietnam War syndrome originally referred to the hallucinations, mental weakness and even chronic fatigue, collapse, nerve damage and other diseases produced by some American Vietnam War veterans after returning home, which reflected the trauma and pain brought by the Vietnam War to the US military from the physiological level. Later, it was widely developed into the opinions of the US government and parties on the issue of war, the lack of confidence and even doubt in the WAR by the US military for a long time, and the anti-war sentiment and war-weariness that pervaded American society, and the resulting doubts and criticisms of the government, and so on. Historical facts have proved that since the end of the Vietnam War, this mentality has been alleviated and subsided, but its impact on the United States is undoubtedly long-term and far-reaching, and even it still interferes in the foreign military policy of the US military in many ways.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, the emergence and evolution of the disease</h1>
The defeat in the Vietnam War was undoubtedly the direct cause of this mentality. At that time, the U.S. government, which desperately needed to contain the development of communist forces in Asia, needed to win a victory in Vietnam to counter Soviet expansion while containing the under-construction People's Republic of China from the south. Although the U.S. military has already failed in North Korea, it is not without gains that it has left South Korea as a gateway to expand its influence in Northeast Asia. As a result, the U.S. military had considerable confidence before the start of the Vietnam War.
U.S. troops landed in Vietnam for the first time, and many thought it would be a quick and simple "vacation"
However, the subsequent development of events exceeded the imagination of the US government and the military, the US military was trapped in the quagmire of the Vietnam War for 10 years, the Vietnam War problem became the heart of successive US governments in this period, and finally, the war ended in the defeat of the United States.
After the war, the U.S. government faced not only the bitter consequences of the failure to contain the communist movement in Asia, the huge military deficit and huge casualties, but also the impact of the two defeats on the confidence of the United States by backward asian countries, and the long-term resettlement of a large number of disabled and veterans, but also faced the criticism of the families of veterans and anti-war activists at home.
Vietnam War American wounded evacuated
Against this backdrop, McNamara made an 11-point summary of the reasons for the defeat of the war, reflecting the apparent loss of confidence in the U.S. government during this period. At the same time, the memoirs of several U.S. government figures and presidents have invariably reflected the apparent divisions between U.S. parties and between the government and the military caused by the Vietnam War. For the U.S. military, especially veterans of the Vietnam War, the loss of confidence and spiritual decline are even more pronounced.
President Kennedy and McNamara (right) in 1962
It was in this context that the Vietnam War syndrome arose, and it embodied the blow of the defeat of the Vietnam War to the American spirit. After this period, the United States clearly turned to the defensive in the Cold War game, and its foreign military intervention was greatly reduced.
In the 1991 Gulf War, the multinational force led by the United States won an overwhelming victory over the Saddam regime in Iraq at a relatively small cost, which can be described as a shot in the arm, which to a certain extent eased the haze of the "Vietnam War syndrome" and enhanced the confidence of the United States in intervening in the internal affairs of other countries and directly intervening in regional conflicts. Subsequently, several U.S. administrations, from President Bush Sr. to President George W. Bush, increased their dispatch of foreign ground troops, and the military operations of the US military entered an active period.
The U.S. military quickly won a decisive victory in the Gulf War
The war in Iraq was once again a turning point. After the rapid overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government and the establishment of a "democratic regime" in Iraq, the US military did not achieve the expected effect of "quick war and quick decision", but had to undertake the heavy responsibility of maintaining security in the Middle East. The same situation in Afghanistan has caused great distress to the US military.
The U.S. government once again fell into a dilemma similar to the Vietnam War, and it took more than a decade to announce the formal withdrawal of troops, once again bearing huge financial expenditures and casualties, and emotions similar to "Vietnam War syndrome" once again spread in the U.S. government and military. Therefore, in the subsequent "Arab Spring" and the Ukrainian issue, the US military did not send formal ground troops, but indirectly intervened by providing weapons and financial support, sending military advisers to train local armed forces, and so on.
Iraq War
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the cause and effect of the disease</h1>
Why does Vietnam War Syndrome occur?
The first is the highly attritional nature of modern warfare, which determines that no country can undertake long-term combat tasks alone. The US military in Vietnam and subsequent Iraq, Afghanistan and other places have been trapped in the dilemma of war of attrition and public security war for a long time, resulting in a huge loss of national finances and officers and soldiers participating in the war. This situation has directly led to the U.S. government and Congress examining the war issue more carefully, and the possibility of direct foreign troops being sent out is becoming less and less.
The second is the subtle influence of the "great power mentality" of the United States. Whether in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and other places, the US military has always prided itself on its strong national strength, high-end weapons and equipment, novel operational theories and other advantages, and regarded itself as the "world policeman", hoping to reflect the great advantages of advanced countries through quick battles and quick decisions. However, the United States has repeatedly ignored the great cohesion of religion, nationalism and other local people, as well as the highly mobile and persistent characteristics of guerrilla warfare, so that it has long been involved in security operations and attrition operations. In the process, soldiers naturally develop disillusionment with superiority and doubts about the purpose of the war, coupled with the long-term loss of relatives and friends, which in the long run leads to distrust of the government and the army, and even permanent mental trauma.
The mental trauma of war accompanies the lives of many U.S. troops
Finally, there was the fuel of anti-war sentiment. Anti-war doctrine emerged in the United States after World War I, and the massive casualties and financial expenses caused by several world war wars after World War II, especially the vietnam war or the war with Iraq, as well as the ineffectiveness of the government and Congress in the resettlement of veterans and the allowance of disabled soldiers, greatly stimulated pacifist and anti-war sentiment. This sentiment affected a large number of soldiers in the military, further exacerbating the psychological condition of "Vietnam War Syndrome".
Anti-war rallies
In the context of the current US administration's policy of emphasizing "America first," the US foreign military policy for a long time to come should still be the indirect intervention policy based on "proxy war" today, which is not only the impact of the "Vietnam War syndrome", but also a stopgap measure to maintain the vitality of the US economic development. However, the global interests of the United States have not changed, which means that the United States is very likely to increase its efforts to support the armed forces of countries or regions that meet its strategic requirements, while expanding the coverage of spy networks. In addition, the United States will continue to use peripheral arms sales, NATO mechanisms, and military partnership alliances to implement military deterrence against the development of emerging countries such as China.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Wen Shijun said</h1>
Contrary to the theories of people's war and "protracted war" advocated by our country, the United States advocates a rapid, efficient, and economic policy in terms of operational ideology and pursues the greatest victory at the lowest cost. Peace and development are the main themes of the times, and although large-scale military conflicts are difficult to occur over a long period of time, China still needs to learn from history, pay attention to the study of the political culture and historical traditions of the world's military powers, conditionally draw on foreign strategic and tactical thinking, strengthen the building of a modern national defense structure, enhance the army's ability to modernize operations, correctly understand the foreign military policy of the US military under the new conditions, and strive for a peaceful and stable international and domestic environment for the realization of the "Chinese Dream."
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > resources</h1>
Chen Xiang: "Research on the Decision of the United States to Evacuate Vietnam in the Late Vietnam War", Master's Thesis of Central China Normal University, 2019.
Yan Guo; Nick Wesam, "The Influence and Role of American Public Opinion in the Anti-Vietnam War Movement," Journal of Zhengzhou University, No. 6, 2018.
Chen Fangyan, "Reflections of American Soldiers on the Vietnam War in 'Angels in Distress'", Master's Thesis, Ningbo University, 2019.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Henan Normal University Spring and Autumn Society)
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