| I agree that the thesis was defective, but I do not agree that you addressed it properly, since the French did, indeed, bail out of Vietnam after sustaining far fewer fatalities overall than they had in a single battle in World War I. Thus, though the thesis was stated hyperbolically, there is evidence that there is something to it. It is obvious that our failure to make a full commitment, and home front defeatism, was the cause of the ambiguous termination of our phase of the Vietnam War, and it is also obvious that we have been reluctant to use force unless we have an overwhelming advantage, and are likely to sustain few casualties, so there is something to the idea that our will to fight was damaged by Vietnam, and only revived because of our high- tech capabilities. Thus, we should not make too much of our comparative willingness to fight. Finally, contemplating how horrific French losses were, not just at Verdun, but overall as a percentage of the population, it is fairly understandable that they have been reluctant to make a long term commitment to engage in belligerencies...... |
