The United States involvement in Vietnam affected both countries, but since the war was fought on Vietnamese soil, its greatest and most traumatic effects were on the Vietnamese people.
While 58,000 American soldiers died and 304,000 were wounded, the statistics on the Vietnamese side include a whopping four million people dead or wounded. Of these, 1.3 million were civilians, including women and children. The United States dropped over 18 million gallons of herbicides containing dioxins and 14 million tons of explosives on Vietnam. The Vietnamese economy was crippled, children were orphaned, and families and communities were destroyed.
Within the United States, the Vietnam War was polarizing, leading to massive protests and political upheavals. Many of the same people advocating increased civil rights and other forms of social change also opposed the war and this led to the growth of youth culture. The practical results of these protests included an end to the draft and resulted in lowering the voting age to 18.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/opinions/deleon-vietnam-war-effects/index.html
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