The Vietnam war which ran from 1955 to 1975, had a huge and devastating impact on both the north Vietnamese people and the South Vietnamese people. Vietnamese civilians endured the tragedies inflicted on them by a war not of their making. It is estimated that approximately 2 million civilians were killed or wounded during the conflict. Much of the death and destruction resulted from bombings, disease, starvation.
The destruction was very widespread with many farms and villages in south Vietnam destroyed turning huge numbers of civilians into homeless refugees. Any of the civilians who were living in rural communities fled to the cities which became overcrowded as prior to the war these cities did not have the infrastructure in place to accommodate so many civilians which arrived on mass numbers within a relatively short period of time. When they moved to the cities, there was a lot of poverty, which was impacting the civilians and Farmers which houses were destroyed.
As a result of their displacement and their desperation for food and shelter, a lot of the farmers would flee without hesitation, not being able to find work, shelter or food, which would resolve in crimes such as stealing food to feed their families, it became a huge humanitarian crisis. Many of the refuged farmers wouldn’t have skills useful for the cities, which affected the incapability for employment and other useful strategies. soldiers would become a threat to women and children as they would come into the villages and kill innocent civilians, as well as unnecessary acts like abuse and rape. Refugees would feel unsafe and helpless in the cities, having nowhere else to go due to their now destroyed homes.
During the war many families were torn apart and segregated on both sides. Ьany north Vietnamese men were taken from their families and forced to join the north Viet Cong with many of the men being killed in action and never returning to their families. Within South Vietnam, many families and communities were torn apart and segregated with some leaving Vietnam altogether, some relocating to cities with many more becoming homeless refugees. Due to poor communication it was many years before family members were reunited.
One of the biggest impacts on the Vietnam war for both north and south Vietnamese civilians was and still is today the environmental impact to the health and wellbeing of the people. During the conflict, the US army dropped millions of gallons of agent orange from 1961 to 1971. This affected many millions.
The combination of the bombings and spraying of chemicals destroyed half of the crops in south Vietnam, all of this had a direct result to the civilian population.
Deformities and birth defects affect civilians after the chemical bombings, still affecting them 40 years later. Still considering deformed civilians as war victims even though the war has passed.
As a result of the U.S spreading a chemical of the name agent orange, this chemical has been linked to millions of birth defects and deformities, higher than normal cancer rates resulting in numerous deaths to both North and South Vietnamese civilians.
In summary, the Vietnam war caused an enormous impact to both the north Vietnamese and the South Vietnamese civilians. This is still causing ongoing problems to this day. These effects include major health issues due to chemical warfare i.e. birth defects, cancer related illnesses and deaths. The war also cause huge mental health issues as a result of the displacement and the deaths on both sides of many family members. There has also been a huge environmental impact to both the north and south Vietnamese as a result of bombings which is estimated that there is approximately 18 million craters which have been formed by the dropping of bombs which totally changed the rural landscape making large amounts of once lush farmland into what can only be called now a toxic wasteland.
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The Main Impact of The Vietnam War.
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